Danse Macabre
by Gaaras-Gothic-Ninja-Sappy-Sue
Summary: All Naruto wants is to live a normal, teenage life. Begrudgingly helping his best friend through stages of a revolting transformation doesn't fit into that equation. Niether does being pulled into a world where pale, tight leather wearing, blood sucking, murderous freaks are convinced they're vampires. GaaNaru SasuNaru Vampire!fic
1. Intruders and Neon Freaks

**Danse Macabre**

I: _Intruders and_ _Neon Freaks _

* * *

_Suna Kingdom│1664_

The strangled moans that echoed across the royal office chorused with the soprano of scrapes, the tenor of bangs, and the undertones of skin slapping against skin on the carved mahogony table. It was a shame, really. It was a nice table, with its complex carvings of strange wild beasts and the brown wood that shone delightfully when hit with the chandeliered lights hanging above it.

A loud whine pierced the air and the brown haired man moving savagely against the long haired woman let out a feral growl. It was a sound akin to a beast, but the woman didn't care to pay much mind to that small detail. A particularly hard thrust sent the table an impressive six inches backwards, and the scream of pleasure that escaped the throat of the woman couldn't fully mask her gasp of pain. She sat awkwardly on the beautiful desk and let herself be impaled wantonly by the brown haired man.

A random onlooker would say that they were distantly related lovers caught in a fury of passion, while another might go as far as to say they were siblings— after all they were both beautiful, had the same impressive sharp features, and it wouldn't be the first time royal family members fell to incest. Someone who had the eyes of deep perception and advantageous knowledge, however, would realize the great differences between the two.

The hairs on their heads, for example.

The woman's hair waved and flew rapidly to and fro with each merciless thrust, and had the sheen of a natural brunette. She was gasping from the effort to stay upright and sweat drenched her forehead and the sides of her face, giving the wet part of her hair a darker shade.

The man had a look of concentrated calm and pleasurable restraint. He was exerting the most energy of the two but not a hair drifted out of place, and wetness covered not an inch of his body, save for the moisture enveloping his length.

Another growl escaped the man, and he whispered a name— the unimportant name of the woman. She, in turn screamed his, and uttered a strangled sound that indirectly stated her wish to ride into immediate gratification. The man complied and, if possible, increased the power behind of his savage prodding— his long length greedily expanding the cavern of her hot, blistering, _wet_—

"Kankuro."

The cool voice that sounded into the office would've only alerted the sharpest of ears, so it was a surprise when the brown haired man suddenly ceased in his glorious fucking to turn and glare at the intruder.

There was silence for a few moments. Before—

"Wh…What the _fuck,_ Gaara…" the brown haired man hissed in annoyance rather than embarrassment. There was a dangerous glint in his eye, but the intruder seemed unbothered. The woman was fairing much worse. She was sputtering incoherent nonsense while the brown haired man continued to glare.

"Y-your _Grace_." she whispered gravely to the man inside of her. "You said we were _alone_." When she whimpered, the intruder's green eyes shifted towards her. She gulped when a faint frown appeared on his face.

"_Distasteful_." the intruder said in a low voice.

The sound was scathing, cold, and terrified the woman, but for some reason she felt a squeezing ache at the base of her stomach, clenching and pulling until she was aroused once again. Her eyes dilated and her breath hitched. The brown haired man still inside her was a mistake, she realized. She should've looked around to see if there were better suitors— like the intruder before her. She was a beautiful girl; maybe she could ditch the one inside her and go for the other instead? The admiration she began to feel for the intruder was eating her from the inside. It was like his presence was pulling her, telling her to leave the man she was with and go to him instead.

Kankuro continued to glare at the man. "Does father know you're here? He won't be pleased that you've once _again_ violated your exile."

The intruder blinked slowly, eyeing the other man for a frozen moment in time before he spoke again. "Did you pick her up at another one of your parties?"

The brunette let out another annoyed growl. "You could at least _knock_." he said, ignoring the question.

The woman wanted to hit him. How dare he speak to the intruder with such a tone?

Said intruder only looked away and took a step backwards towards the grand doors. The woman let out an unceremonious whine. The retreating man was hurting her. She wanted him to come _back_. She wanted him to look at her with those unworldy green eyes and—

"I'd be careful if I were you, Kankuro." he said this with a drawl that said he wouldn't care either way. "You might end up catching one of their filthy diseases." he caught the brown haired man's eye. "Dispose of her."

To the woman's surprise the man inside her laughed. "You still think, after all this time, that I should listen to you?"

The intruder paused for a moment, eyeing the taller man with listless eyes. "It was never a matter of listening." he mumured, almost as if he was speaking to himself. "It was only a matter of heeding. A warning."

The brown haired man scoffed with a sharp jerk of his head. "_Warnings_. You always speak of of them. If that's the case then why don't you heed _father's_ warning and never come back?"

The intruder blinked slowly, and took another step back towards the door. "There's a difference between warnings," he started quietly, "and empty threats." He walked the rest of the way to the door then, and took a small step out. "Get rid of her," he said, "Or I will." he finished firmly, before he exited the room.

Then there was silence.

The woman stared longingly at the door and she shifted against the brown haired man who was staring at the door with a steady glare. The woman put a hand on his shoulder. "Who was that man?" she breathed. Her eyes were bright.

Kankuro paused a bit in his breathing, and then he looked into the woman's eyes. They were glazed over, dazed and staring after the intruder. He scoffed. "Five seconds in his presence and you've already—" then he stopped, paused, and shook his head with a smile. He pulled out of the woman carefully and zipped up his pants. Without his face contorted in that strange restrained pleasure he had before, he was rather pleasant to look at. He had astonishingly strong features—a modern Hercules without the excess brawn and muscle. He had the barest hint of hair on his chin and carried a look of an effortlessly handsome man. He played with a small lock of the woman's hair, thinking idly of how beautiful it was with that sheen of sweat. He passed a hand over her breast and squeezed lightly.

He frowned. The breasts of the higher class were always small. He preferred those of the peasants.

"Y-your Grace..." the woman mumbled, barely remembering the formalities and still not quite over her daze after seeing the intruder. The cool breeze coming from the open window in the office blew over the wetness between her legs and she hastily closed them. "_Kankuro_." she said a little more firmly. But when the man's sharp brown eyes landed on her, she gulped. "What..." she started slowly, "What did that man mean by..._dispose_?"

The comtemplating look in the man's eyes was replaced with a blank look, and that blank look stayed for several moments before he smiled. The woman didn't know why, but she shivered. The wind from the cold air seemed to increase in its intensity. The brown haired man turned to fully face her with the same smile and leaned in to kiss her. "He meant nothing by it, darling." he said softly as his lips left hers and travelled to her jaw to trail against her neck. The woman sighed and relaxed into the movement of his mouth, rubbing and kissing. She was so relaxed that she didn't mind when the slow movement of his lips turned into light nips of teeth, biting, and biting until a warm mouth suddenly enveloped the whole of her neck...

Her screams could be heard from outside of the room, across the hallway, down the stairs, and into the living room where the intruder, a redhead, had a book in his hands, reading. The scream came to an abrupt end, followed by a sickening sound like flesh ripping apart.

The redhead only frowned.

* * *

_Suna City│2012_

If Naruto had a dollar for every time Kiba had a good idea, he'd be just as broke as he was at the moment. But for some reason he found himself being dragged once _again_ to another meaningless "hard core" party down in some underground studio in a town he never dared to venture before. Who rode sixty miles away from home just to attend a party, anyway? Apparently he did.

It wasn't entirely his fault, though. He would've never agreed to come if it wasn't for the fact that Kiba was dragging his step sister, Hinata, with him. Unbeknownst to his best friend, Naruto had developed a strange liking to the timid girl. Not in the way that said he would date her, but in a way that made him feel obligated to protect her like a brother should—because Kiba _never _knew how to do that.

So there they were on a long line to the entrance to the "Party of the _Century_" as Kiba kept reminding him. Naruto wasn't so sure as he looked around at the people standing in line. Most of them were probably normal high school kids, but Naruto had to do a double take at the outfits they wore: tight, bright colored leather that looked more like neon plastic against skin. Naruto wrinkled his nose in distaste. All of them had wild hair too, neon blue, neon green, and...was that a _rainbow _Mohawk? Naruto had to snicker a bit at that.

Hinata stood beside him, looking wide eyed and afraid as always. Her eyes darted from every person who so much as shifted their feet in a different position. She was probably more freaked out by the people than Naruto was.

"Hinata," he whispered softly to her.

Hinata started slightly, and turned to face the blonde. "Ah, y-yes?" She whispered back. A small smile appeared on her face.

"Are you all right?" Naruto asked seriously. "If you want, I could always take you home...?" Naruto desperately wanted Hinata to just admit that she wanted to leave, so he could have a chance to get out of here without facing Kiba's wrath.

To his disappointment, Hinata put on a brave face shook her head no. "No, Naruto; I-I'm fine."

Naruto sighed but gave the girl a small reassuring smile none the less. The line moved suddenly, and Naruto let his heart sink. He hated parties like this. He missed the old days when he used to go to innocent little holiday celebrations back in junior high—the days before Kiba decided that school wasn't his "scene" and was convinced that he'd been wasting his time attending children parties his entire life. Naruto didn't complain then, as naive as he was, and had followed Kiba to the first "upgraded" party. It wasn't fun. There was booze everywhere, and too many loose men and women who were more drunk than fun. It was more like an unofficial ho-joint than a party. Naruto hadn't said anything then because it was right after Kiba's mother got into that car accident...

But this party crowd was putting him on edge. More so than usual. And from the looks of it, the people didn't like him either. Every time he caught one of their eyes, they would glare or snicker to their friends.

The line moved suddenly, but not to indicate another pair of weirdo's being allowed into the club. Instead, the neon freaks became stiff. It was strange because they all seemed to go stiff at the same time, save for a few other teens that looked the closest to normal in the crowd. Naruto raised an eyebrow at the change in atmosphere and turned to Kiba who was grinning like an idiot.

"Is this some kind of code?" he whispered. Whispering seemed appropriate; the line had fallen into a deep silence. Kiba only grinned wider and shrugged his shoulders in feigned innocence. Needless to say, Naruto did not feel the least bit relieved by this. But at least it meant Kiba knew what was going on— only keeping it a secret from the blonde. Code or not, he wasn't going to follow the Neon's lead.

It was then that the moan of a car sounded behind him. The line was located in an ally, so it was strange when he turned around to find a dark, long, sleek vehicle sitting there, parked beside a chipped wall. Naruto squint his eyes; he'd never seen a car like it before. The sheen on its, not silver, but _black_ grill seemed to glow even in the darkness, and the rims on the wheels carried a strange logo of a brand he didn't recognized. It looked like a lazy _K_, curving at the tips. It must be a foreign car, he thought.

The Neon Freaks suddenly seemed to shake out of their stiffness and began to shuffle restlessly, shouting and pumping their fists in joy. The few that looked closest to normal had wide eyes and shook as they started to jump around too, following the lead of the rest of them. Naruto raised an eyebrow. Then he turned to Kiba. His dog loving friend was relaxed and still grinning. That failed to reassure the blonde. Out of habit, he squeezed Hinata's arm to see if she was alright. She only shook her head dazedly, eyes transfixed on the vehicle before them.

It was then that he heard the familiar click of a car door opening. Hinata started, Naruto's eyes widened a bit at the suddenness, but Kiba only lazily followed the car with his eyes and a small smile that unnerved Naruto.

Three individuals came out of the car, each of them exiting out a different door.

In the passenger seat, a woman came out and Naruto had to hold his breath. The woman was _stunning_. Her hair framed her head like golden shards twisting into neat identical curls. Naruto was inarguably blind without his glasses, so it came as a shock that he could still see the way her green eyes shimmered against the darkness, as if a flashlight mysteriously hid beneath her iris' and gave her that glow of emerald. Her face was pale but she had a blush on her cheeks. Naruto couldn't tell if it was make-up or not, but it seemed out of place on her face—like an unneeded accessory that numbed down her sharply impressive features. She had a light disinterested frown on her face that made Naruto shiver, and for the smallest second he could _swear_ the woman looked at him…or somewhere behind him…Naruto heard Kiba sigh dreamily.

From the driver's seat came a brown haired man. He was taller than the woman, but probably younger, what with the way he grinned so widely at the line. He was handsome, Naruto supposed. His hair was styled in a loosely academic way—as if he ruffled up his hair after his mother smoothed it out before an important dinner. His face was softer than the blonde woman's, but sharp enough to intimidate Naruto. And his eyes were brown. Naruto had always found beauty in what people might call a dull color, but he'd never seen a brown quite that _bright_ before. The contrast from his solid colored brown hair to the paleness of his skin and to the brightness in those eyes surprised Naruto. How the hell was he noticing these things without his glasses? When the man had stepped out the car, Naruto felt Hinata tense up beside him.

He was about to put a hand on her back when the back door to the car opened and another man stepped out…

Naruto felt his mouth go slack.

He blinked…

Then he _swallowed._

It was as if the air in the ally dropped several degrees. Naruto felt a shiver crawl up his spine and prickle against the skin on his back. He tried to swallow again but a lump of thick saliva accumulated in his throat. He stiffened, but not like the rest of the crowd who all seemed to be eyeing the latest comer with eyes of lust and profound adoration. Naruto was quivering with _disgust_.

The man who lastly came out of the car was a redhead, and he was the epitome of an aristocrat. His looks were sharper than the woman's and his eyes seemed capable of piercing through diamonds even as he stared straight ahead without sparing even one glance at the drooling crowd. Naruto felt his mouth twitch in a frown. His red hair was cropped so perfectly to frame his face and the rest of it lied listlessly against his shoulders, unmoving. And his skin—_gods, _his skin. He would compare to porcelain, but even that came with its marks and cuts. This man's skin was so pale and unblemished and didn't even have the barest hint of colors to his cheeks.

_Revolting_.

Naruto didn't know what it was. The redhead carried an air that made him want to choke, vomit even. He looked around him. Everyone else was staring with wide eyes, and open, panting mouths.

Naruto shook his head. Naruto was convinced that these guys were either drug dealers or drug addicts running a club because the paleness of their faces was enough to make him see in the dark. Naruto was ashamed to be here, in this place, where people like _that_ hung out. The large bouncer, who'd been checking for what Naruto thought was I.D's and interrogating people before they went in, stiffened a bit when the three (freaks) went inside, but he didn't stop them. In fact, as soon as they went in, the entire crowd relaxed. Everyone seemed to take a breath, sighing away the tension that had build up in the ally with a look of post gratification on their faces.

Naruto looked over to Kiba. The teen was hunched over a bit, looking over longingly at the door where the trio walked in. Naruto scowled.

So it would be one of _those_ parties. With the _God of Death_ kind of nonsense and the freaky rituals and the worshipping of some kind of band. The three that just walked in were probably the band. If not, then they were owners of this place.

The blonde wondered idly if the neon styles of the crowd were influenced by the three who just walked in as well, but then he remembered that the trio didn't walk in with anything bright did they? In fact, the only person who had been slightly in line with the dress code of the crowd was the blonde woman with her short black leather skirt and the white leather corset. He couldn't remember what the other two were wearing.

The line moved, and the murmuring began again. Naruto turned to look at Kiba. The dog lover had a strange look on his face— like the post-gratification that shone in the eyes of the crowd just moments before. Naruto frowned at this.

"Kiba." he asked with a small huff. "Who the hell were those guys—the band?"

Kiba blinked and smirked down at him. "Not a band, mate." he said with a sympathetic shake of his head. "They're _gods_."

Naruto rolled his eyes. So they were a band, he thought grimly. Kiba usually exaggerated things like that when he was talking about music and such. "Look, Kiba," he started. "You know this isn't my scene."

Kiba raised an eyebrow and laughed at him. "Nothing is your _scene_, Naruto. You're always cooped up in that little apartment of yours, doing homework and playing that damn piano." he scoffed then. "Trust me man, after tonight, you'll understand. This isn't just a _scene_." Then the brunette turned around and grabbed his shoulders roughly. "Everyone here, Naruto..." he lamely gestured to the crowd. "…has gotten something from them— something special and amazing. And today, I finally get _mine._"

Naruto scowled. "It's not drugs is it?"

"Better." was Kiba's response. "It's so much _better_, Naruto." Naruto pulled away from Kiba's wide eyes with a tight frown. He was beginning to think he should just leave the premises, permission or not. He wanted to just take Hinata's hand and get away from this weird place before something he would regret happened.

Naruto contemplated escape in his head for several minutes until he heard Kiba mutter something. Naruto looked up. They were already in front of the line. How'd that happen so fast? Naruto shook his head and stayed alert in case Kiba said something wrong and they would have to run from the bouncers like last time.

Whatever Kiba said, it made the bouncer raise a skeptical eyebrow.

"Alright." The bouncer said gruffly. "Let me see it."

Kiba smirked and reached into his pocket to take out a golden card. Naruto could _swear_ the entire line behind him uttered a small gasp. He tried to ignore this, and instead turned to stare at the said card Kiba was extending to the bouncer. Naruto narrowed his eyes. Kiba had been exclaiming joyously with that card a few days back. Naruto thought it was a credit card. But now that he had a closer look at it, it was nothing like a credit card at all. It shimmered with a gold shine that glowed in the darkness, and as far as he could see without his glasses, the card didn't have numbers like a credit card, or any logo for that matter.

Kiba stood with a proud smirk and when the bouncer reached for the card, he pulled it away with a growl that surprised Naruto.

The bouncer wrinkled his nose before nodding his head and stepping aside. Kiba smirked and proceeded past the bouncer. Naruto let Hinata go ahead of him, but when it was his turn to pass the bouncer, the big man stopped him with a hard hand to his chest. "Where's _your_ invitation, buddy?" he asked with a deep frown.

Naruto opened his mouth to stutter a sort of apology but Kiba cut in—

"He's with me." He said nudging the bouncer on the arm. "He's only got a grey card anyway. Come on, Naruto."

The bouncer raised another skeptical eyebrow before moving aside to let Naruto in.

Naruto looked at the bouncer with wide eyes, hoping the big man would somehow understand the blonde's desperate need to deny him access into the club, but the bouncer only narrowed his eyes at him, scoffed, and pushed him ahead.

Naruto wished more than anything that he hadn't done that.

* * *

│End of Chapter│

Thank you for reading, and please review! Light in the Fifth Floor Bedroom will come sometime mid-August, or perhaps earlier than that. And I'm going to see to updating earlier stories.

Tschüss


	2. The Coke, Speed, Crack, and Music

**Danse Macabre**

II:_The Coke, the Speed, the Crack, the Music_

* * *

Naruto expected a run down, peeled paint, sort of urban shack when he entered the building. He found worse. They had to travel down a long hallway where the music seemed to burst through cracks on the walls, each vibration shaking the ceiling and spinning the lights.

Naruto and Hinata followed their friend with wary looks on their faces, and the blonde unconsciously grabbed her hand. "_Kiba_," he whispered urgently.

Kiba didn't respond, and Naruto inwardly cursed. His eyes darted from left to right apprehensively and avoided the people leaning on the walls of the hallway, none of which shifted or moved to allow the three of them through, so they actually had to expertly maneuver over them as they walked.

The people who hung by the wall all had strange looks on their faces, Naruto saw disquietingly. They were all so pale, and their eyes were such a hollow black—as if they had skull holes instead of eyeballs. It made Naruto shudder. He could hear other people walking behind them, at a slower pace. Some actually stopped to speak to the pale freaks leaning on the wall.

Naruto knew that they were druggies. It would explain the paleness of their skin, the hollowness in their eyes, the utter immobility when he and his friends passed by. Naruto shook his head, "_Kiba_—"

"Just chill out, Naruto." Kiba said, the amusement gone from his voice.

They turned a corner then, and the three faced a wide elevator.

Naruto scoffed when he saw it. Who did these people think they were? The elevator was like some sort of renaissance artifact with vine like metallic spheres that intertwined against each other above the golden painted double doors. Did these people sell that much crystal and heroine that they could afford platinum rimmed elevators and a golden timer above the damn thing?

Naruto wanted to sneer, only his lips weren't built for that, so he glared instead. Kiba walked up to the elevator like he owned the thing. He whipped out the golden card he'd shown to the bouncer and hovered it over a blinking red area near the contraption. Naruto heard a mechanical wheezing sound, and he raised an eyebrow when the meter on the elevator zipped to reach the number one on the timer.

There was an unnerving tinkling sound, and the doors to the elevator door opened. The elevator inside, like the exterior, was extravagant. Kiba walked in quickly, with a sound of excitement. Hinata followed after him, looking back at Naruto for a small moment with concern in her eyes. Naruto only shut his eyes and prayed for the tenth time that the night would go well, before he stepped inside the elevator with Kiba and Hinata. The doors began to close but before they could, Naruto saw a few people turning the corner to reach it. The person in front paused when he saw Naruto and his friends in there, raised an eyebrow, smirked, and continued to walk leisurely towards the elevator.

"Hold it," he called. He wore a bright leather thing, like the others outside, and approached them with a smirk.

Naruto scowled back and considered not holding it open, but at the last mille-second he stepped his foot forwards, and the double doors, sensing the movement, opened up again. The people outside continued to walk forwards graciously. There were three of them, one ahead of the other two who were walking side by side in a strange sort of triangle formation. The one in front had long blonde hair and a strange white eye-patch on his right eye. He had a permanent smirk on his face it seemed, like everything around him was amusing, especially the three of them in the elevator. The other two Naruto couldn't see so well. They wore dark non-shiny leather, which was a relief on Naruto's eyes. Both of them were brunettes, one with a short cut, and the other with wild hair, and both had their heads down.

When the three of them stepped in graciously into the elevator, the one who'd asked to have the door held nodded his thanks to blonde, and faced him as the door closed. In fact, the other two faced them as well. It was like a three on three face-off, with the leader facing Naruto, and the other two facing Kiba and Hinata. Naruto found himself swallowing hard, at the sort of leer the man in front of him gave him.

"Well now." The man said under his breath. His voice was a deep murmur. "You must be one of the new whores."

Naruto made a sound like a choke, and took a small step back. "_Excuse_ me?" he hissed.

The longhaired blonde chuckled and looked genuinely apologetic. "Oh, I beg your pardon. Professional Escort, is it? I'll call you whatever you'd like."

"Che." Sounded the short haired man standing in front of Kiba. Naruto thought it might have been a version of a chuckle.

The man in front Hinata said nothing, and only pressed a button behind him. The elevator doors closed, and suddenly began to move up. Kiba made a sudden move, like he wanted to say something, but decided against it.

They rode the elevator in silence, and Naruto felt like time was purposely slowing down so he could endure the smirk the blonde man in front of him gave him. It wasn't even a smirk. It was like a suggestive leer, with him narrowing his eyes at Naruto with every passing second, and Naruto could swear the blonde seemed to glide towards him just a bit.

Finally, the elevator stopped, and the blonde man seemed to pause. He leaned backwards, and gave Naruto an opened mouth smile.

And Naruto had to catch himself then, because the man's teeth were…

He blinked. They were—

_Deformed_, somehow. That's what it was. Some kind of deformation, because no ones teeth could be that _sharp_. And Naruto could swear, that as the man existed the elevator the teeth seemed to elongate, then retract back again as he turned fully around.

The other two followed the man suit, and again, they seemed to form that small triangle formation. One of them, turned a head slightly around, to face them in the elevator. Naruto only saw a quarter of his profile, but he could make out pale skin and the slant of very dark eyes. He seemed to scowl at Naruto, and the blonde felt like he'd seen the man before…

But then the elevators were closing, and all the blonde could really take with him was the odd way the boy's hair shot up in the back of his head.

And then it was only Kiba, Hinata, and him in the elevator. Kiba let out an exasperated breath, like he'd been holding onto something.

"Did you see the way that guy was lookin' at me?" he said, stepping forwards. "Like he was so much _better_. Well I'll show him." He pressed the very bottom button, marked with an enormous B, and the elevator didn't move at first. There was a chinkling noise, and all three of them looked to the ceiling as if they'd find the reason for the noise up there.

"Kiba, why is this place so...strange?" Hinata asked softly.

Kiba turned to her with a grin. "This place isn't _strange_, Hinata. It's different. You'll see. You're gonna have a blast."

"Maybe _you _will, Kiba." Naruto said speaking up, looking away from the ceiling to his friend. "The only thing this place is doing is creeping us out."

At that moment the elevator began to move. There was a mechanical retching noise, and the elevator _dropped_. So fast that the three could feel the fall. Hinata yelped loudly and Naruto let out a small gasp. Kiba, the bastard, seemed to be enjoying the ride.

The ride ended as soon as it started, with a jolt. Naruto felt himself be thrown against the wall. Hinata stumbled and fell to the ground. Naruto reached out to catch her but it was too late. In the meantime, Kiba had his hand bracing himself on the wall.

"Kiba, what the hell _is_ this place?" Naruto had to shout because the music was pulsing against the elevator doors, making it hard to hear.

Kiba said nothing, only straightened himself and gave Naruto another one of those infuriating smiles.

Naruto opened his mouth to reply, but lost his words when the door to the elevator opened, almost completely un-muffling the repetitive bass and tremble that pulsed through incredibly loud speakers.

The blonde had expected to see a crowd of people moving and dancing to the beat but instead they faced another long hallway, even dimmer than the one upstairs. Naruto had to squint to see the people who stood by the walls, each paired off with another, moving and grinding against each other in vile obnoxious ways. One woman kneeled before a man and the blonde knew the bobbing of her head against the waistband of the other's pants could only mean one thing.

Naruto felt the need to lift a hand and cover Hinata's eyes but the girl was already heading out of the elevator, following Kiba's lead. The dark haired boy turned back to laugh at Naruto as he walked ahead, as if the people on the walls were amusing, and Naruto tried to glare back but the brunette turned before he could.

"Kiba!" he called out, but the blast of the music ahead swallowed his words. He doubted his friend would have turned around if he'd heard anyway.

Kiba led them down the long hallway, easily passing the people on the wall. Those facing the three opened their closed eyes to stare at them as they moved with the person grinding and moving against them. Naruto turned away, unnerved and annoyed. This place would be worse than any club Kiba would drag him to, he knew that for sure.

When they reached the end of the hallway, they faced an enormous metallic door, and Naruto knew that right behind it must have been the actual party, because the door moaned and moved with the sound of each hard bass, reverberating like a magnet fork banged onto a metal pole. Kiba didn't hesitate to pry it open, and the blonde saw that he had to separate two sides of it with his hands, like a rusty elevator. He wouldn't have been able to figure it out without hesitating first, so this made him realize that Kiba must have been here before…

But again he didn't have time to ask questions, because the door was open, and Kiba was stepping inside the enormous crowd of people who were moving and jumping, and grinding, and screaming, and—

Naruto grabbed Hinata's hand before she could follow her stepbrother. "Hinata," he yelled over the music.

The young woman stared at him with wide, fearful, and confused eyes. "_What_," she yelled back, but Naruto could only tell because of the way her lips moved, not because he heard what she said.

"Let's get out of here! This is crazy!" he yelled, but he felt the last dropping beat of the song drown out the last part he said.

"But Kiba!" Hinata yelled, and again Naruto knew this because of the way her lips moved, not because he could hear her.

Naruto shook his head. "Forget him! We shouldn't be he – agh –!" He was cut off when someone shoved passed him to go through the open metal doors. "Hey," he called out angrily, but was cut off again when yet another person shoved passed him.

"My apologies." said a voice. And the blonde found it strange that the man hadn't been screaming, but somehow managed to sound over the pulsing music. Naruto turned around just in time to see a dark haired man pass him by. The man made a slight tilt of his head, so the blonde could see his eyes as he passed him. Naruto squinted when he saw them.

His own eyes seemed to realize that he wasn't wearing glasses, because the blur of red he saw before him could _not_ have been the man's true eye color. Not unless he was wearing very bright eye contacts.

_My coke—_

_My speed—_

_My crack—_

_My weed—_

The lyrics seemed to buzz in Naruto's ears, and suddenly he was shoved ahead again, by people behind him, into the erratic crowd before him. He turned frantically to find Hinata, but the girl seemed to have been shoved to the side, because he couldn't find her.

"_Hinata!"_

He thought he heard a girl scream to his left, and he turned there, but then he heard another scream to his right, and he turned _there_—and then there was a scream in _front_ of him—

And—

Naruto felt his heart drop.

He lost Hinata.

_My doze—_

_My seed—_

_My soul—_

_My mu-sic—_

The music seemed to be coming from above now, and Naruto felt like he was being crushed by the hundreds of people, stomping, and grinding, and jumping all over the place. There was a DJ somewhere he knew because the crowd seemed to orient to a single direction, albeit there were still people pooling about, throwing themselves everywhere.

They were all on drugs, Naruto knew. Their state of dress – that bright, blinding neon on neon leather that clung to their skin as they sweat, and sung, and moved—

"_Hinata!"_ and that was Naruto screaming again, turning his head from left to right, hoping he would see a head of un-spiked black hair and a trademark white sweater. But no. All he saw was bright reds and bright oranges, and greens, and blues, and—

_My coke—_

_My speed—_

_My crack—_

_My weed—_

There was a particular hard shove from the back, and Naruto found himself thrown forwards, this time hitting hard into a large person in front of him. Said person somehow managed to turn around in the crowd and glare down at Naruto.

Naruto looked back at him, swallowing his immediate fear and mouthed an apology. The large man before him, with dark hair and glowing blue eyes, took him by the shoulders, and shoved him to the ground.

"Gurgh—" Naruto couldn't even holler out as he fell down. It was an ungraceful fall, with him catching several people before he finally hit the ground. When he did he make a move to get up, a powerful foot to his chest held him down, and knocked the breath out of him.

There was a sound like a battle cry, and the man went down to the floor, on top of Naruto with his rancid breath blowing over his face. Naruto coughed, and turned his head away. "What are you—"

He had to pause when the humongous man made a show of smelling the side of Naruto's face. He seemed to growl under his breath, a sound that Naruto more felt than heard, what with the way the man's lips were suddenly on his ear. "_Humaan_," the man growled, and he moved against Naruto.

The blonde choked, putting his hands into play. He shoved at the larger man on top of him, but it was futile. There was another rough movement against him, and Naruto had to clutch the man's shoulders, as he was pressed hard against the floor. He tried to scream again, but suddenly there was a hand to his mouth, muffing that scream. Naruto brought both hands to the one on his mouth, pulling, and pulling but again it was futile.

"_Shouldn't have come heeree_," and again the man said it in a growl. Naruto could feel his smirk against his neck, and his body racked when a scratchy, fat tongue lapped a space on his neck.

"Munmaaah!" the blonde screamed against the hand at his mouth, but he couldn't even hear himself, the music was so loud. He tried biting the hand, but his teeth couldn't latch onto the skin on the palm.

The man moved against him again, and somehow, managed to maneuver his way between Naruto's legs. Naruto started moving savagely then, trying to shove his head from side to side, but the grip on his mouth was so strong, and the man above him was so _huge_.

Then there was something sharp at his neck. It had to be a knife, it _had_ to be a knife, even though the man's position made it impossible for him to suddenly have taken a knife to Naruto's neck, it _had_ to be a knife, and it could not be teeth, no those couldn't be _teeth_ scraping Naruto's neck—

Grch—

And that was the knife penetrating his skin.

Naruto screamed. But the man's hand only squeezed his mouth and ripped his head to the side, almost breaking his _neck_—

And he pressed his teeth, yes it was _teeth_ against his neck, because it would explain the quick and lapping wetness and the sucking lips that pressed against his _bleeding_ flesh—

And Naruto couldn't breath. He could feel his own screams dying down, but the excruciating pain stayed, ever-present and growing. It was like a searing iron to his neck, and he felt his skin being ruthlessly pulled. It wasn't long before blood was coming out of his mouth, and any noise he would have made, died with his slacking mouth and his fadng ears.

Only the pulse of the music stayed with him at his last moments.

_My coke—_

_My weed—_

_My crack—_

_My speed—_

_My doze—_

_My seed—_

_My soul—_

_My mu-sic—_

And then it was over. And he was gone.

* * *

He awoke with a gasp of breath so painful it seemed to quake through his lungs and spasm against his back. He coughed violently, and promptly turned over to vomit the contents of his stomach. He closed his eyes so he didn't have to look at the mess he'd made, and put a hand over his mouth.

Hand over his mouth.

Teeth on his neck.

Naruto opened his eyes, seeing the guck and glob of sick he'd spewed on the floor. But was unaffected by it, as he let go of his mouth, and reached a slow, timid hand towards the spot on his neck.

When he touched it he pulled away quickly, a pathetic cry escaping his lips. He reached again, laying a hand flat on his neck. His clear, unmarked neck.

Naruto hung his head and let out a breath.

He could have sworn.

He could have _sworn_.

But he was understanding now. It must have been something in the air. Drug substances and hallucinogens mixing in with the oxygen and somehow affecting his brain. it was the coke, the speed, the crack, the music - that had to be it.

He made a move to stand up, and away from his vomit, but slipped on something behind him and came crashing right back to the floor. He almost fell head first in his vomit, but he reacted, quickly bracing his hands on either side of his mess, before he could fall on it. When Naruto's breathing calmed, with him staring wide eyed at the ground, he finally turned his head to see what he slipped on.

He didn't know what to make of the smeared pool of red goop that lay behind him, suspiciously in the shape of a human being and then spreading out from the outline. There were hand prints, and swipes, and other things littered all over it, and it was only then that Naruto felt the dampness of his back. He reached one hand, with difficulty, to the fabric just behind his shoulder, and when he pulled back to see there was indeed that same red goop, thick in texture, at his fingers.

Naruto didn't want to think about what the red liquid was, so he stood up, grinding his teeth when he felt cricks and sprains all over his body.

He stood there for a few moments, holding himself. When he looked up he found that he was an enormous basement like room. He saw the metallic doors he'd been pushed through in front of him, but they looked so much less intimidating now that there were lights on in the basement type thing.

"So he lives again."

Naruto turned around, almost breaking his neck as he did, and stared at the tall man who was walking towards him. Brown haired, with bright eyes.

Naruto caught his breath. It was one of _them_. The one who'd gotten out of the car.

"You gave us gave us quite a show." The man said, walking forwards until he was only a few feet from Naruto. He seemed to glow. Naruto didn't know what else to call the quiet illumination around the taller man. His skin was the kind of pale that looked sickly on others, but it suited him. His body looked like a solid thing. Something strong, without excess.

Naruto didn't know why, but he felt a quiet string of threat echoing from the man. He sniffed, wanting to back away, but his pride didn't let him show his fear. But the feeling stayed, coming from the man, like an air of repellant trying to push him backwards.

"Naruto…you're okay."

It was then that Naruto realized a very familiar girl holding onto the arm of the tall man.

"Hinata!" he almost rushed forwards, but was stopped when a throb jolted from his sides.

Gods, where was this pain coming from?

When he looked up again, the tall man was smirking down at him, and leaning against his friend, who Naruto now realized had a lazy smile on her face as she leaned back against the man.

"Hinata…" he started slowly.

"Your friend here was lost." The man said. "Found her on the wall trying to fend off one of them. Got to her before they could do much damage…but I saw you weren't so lucky…" he smirked then, and looked at the spot on Naruto's neck. The man frowned momentarily at what he saw there, but the blonde was too concerned with Hinata to question it.

She looked back at Naruto with that strange lazy smile, and a slight haze in her eyes.

"What did you _do_ to her," Naruto started, angrily. He moved forwards, fighting through the pain of his aching muscles and pulled Hinata away from the man. She let herself be pulled, and staggered a bit towards the blonde.

The tall man frowned at him, but it had no real malice in it. "You should be thanking me."

"I should thank you for drugging my friend and God knows what else?"

The man chuckled. "I didn't do anything she didn't want to." He murmured. "You should be thanking me for not letting her become like you."

Naruto hesitated. "Like me? What are you talking about?"

The man gave him a deep knowing smile. "Don't you feel it? The deep throb in your neck…the hunger. You probably want to eat your friend right now."

Naruto narrowed his eyes in disbelief and took a step back, taking Hinata with him. "The hell are you talking about? I don't feel any of those things." He wasn't going to tell him about the pain he could feel all over his body, though.

Infuriatingly, the man chuckled. "You're a strong one. But it won't last long. Before you know it the hunger will eat you alive and you'll be like all the other idiot _half-breeds_ running around this damned city." He said half-breed like it cut his tongue.

Naruto opened his mouth to say something, but stopped himself. He wasn't going to argue. He knew the guy had to be crazy somehow. Instead he took another step back, and made a move to turn away. The sooner he and Hinata found their way out of here, the better.

"I admit I'm impressed." The man called out to them, as they walked away. His voice seemed to go deeper. It was like he wasn't really speaking and was in Naruto's head instead. The sound of his words buzzed in his body and carried themselves until they found purchase between his ears. "All the other new ones have fed at least once. Some poor human like you yourself once was. They're out in hiding now. Hidden from Sol."

Naruto raised an eyebrow. _Hidden from Sol?_

"Even if you're able to deny it in your mind, your body won't be able to. Step outside and you'll burn."

Naruto turned back, glaring at the tall man. "Are you threatening me?" he asked. He didn't know what was giving him the balls. He was just feeling so annoyed right now. He'd been dragged here, practically against his will, and despite his efforts to stop Kiba he still had to go through this. He paused at the thought of Kiba, wondering where his friend was, but he pushed the thought away. He wasn't going to worry about a person who didn't worry about him when they arrived at this place.

"Not threatening. Only warning. Can't make enemies with your lot anymore. Not since they're so many of you now...Like the one who ripped you apart."

Naruto was taken aback for a moment. The man was no longer smiling. He looked serious, and what was that other hanging expression in his eyes.

Pity, Naruto recognized. The man was pitying him. For what reason? God knew what. All Naruto knew was that he felt the sudden urge to crack a bat over the man's head. He hated his obscure way of talking, and he hated the look on his face. But it didn't matter. The man was high, or on drugs, or whatever it was, and he was saying weird things because his mind was taking him on some mental trip.

"Thanks for the warning." He said instead, but he was sure his tone of voice showed how ungrateful he was. "But we'll be leaving now." He turned around again, headed for large metallic doors.

"Ha," the man chuckled deeply. "It's your funeral. Take the other door. It'll take you right outside."

When the blonde turned back around, he saw the taller man pointing to his left. When Naruto looked there, he saw that there was indeed another door, up a long frail looking set of stairs. He gave the man a wary glare, before he pulled at Hinata once more and went towards the stairs. He was surprised when the man followed behind them, walking with quiet, languid footsteps. The blonde walked a little faster and would have run up the stairs if Hinata wasn't being so lethargic. She held on to Naruto tight, and her head drooped every once in a while. He considered asking again what the hell the man did to her, but he didn't want to risk having another conversation with him.

When he reached the top of the stairs, his muscles straining not only from practically carrying his friend, but from the previous ache in his muscles, he gripped the handle of the door and pulled.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" said an amused, deep voice. "At least leave the girl so she doesn't get seared in the embers of your burning flesh."

Naruto ignored that, and pulled the door open. He was faced with a shock of sunlight, and Naruto heard the man hiss behind him. He found himself facing the alley that he and friends had entered before, only now it looked harmless as the suns rays batted against the floor, somehow positioning itself right between the two high walls of the alley to find purchase right in the middle of the street. He took a tired step forwards.

And the sun.

The sun felt _wonderful_ against his skin. It seemed to fill him with life, and the promise of a brand new day. It made him want to forgive Kiba for making him go through all this, and made him want to rejoice in the strange strength he could feel livening up his bones.

And he felt refreshed, like the sun was a pool of water washing off the dirt, mud, and vomit of the night before. He breathed in the day air, and began to move forwards. His muscles still cricked and strained but it was a pain much more tolerable than before.

When he was several feet ahead, he risked a look at the insane man, wondering if he was still right behind him. Instead he saw him still at the door, shadows hiding most of his body. The only thing that made him visible, was the illumination of the florescent lights behind him, and even then, his face was incredibly hard to make out. Naruto thought he could see the brightness of his eyes though. Staring back at him, wide, and disbelieving, in surprise.

Naruto looked away, glad enough to be under the sun not to care about what that look could have meant.

* * *

│End of Chapter │

Author's Notes:

So there's chapter two. So do you guys think the bit with the huge man on top of Naruto was just a dream? Kankuro doesn't seem to think so…

Ha, anyway, hope you enjoyed this filler-type chapter. Hopefully the next one is more interesting. To those waiting on **LFFB**, don't think I'm neglecting it for my other stories. It's in the process and will be done soon. So,

Stay tuned.

Oh, and a Disclaimer: the song snippets are from the hard bass version of the song _Rail de Musique_ by _Stromae._


	3. Measured Sunlight

**Danse Macabre**

III:_ Measured Sunlight_

* * *

The trip back home had been grueling and disastrous. Naruto had not taken the time to really look at the condition of himself and his clothes, and his reflection in every store window revealed that he was in a disheveled and dangerous-looking state. A dark substance was smeared all over his face, and his clothes were tattered and disgusting, as if someone had tried to rip them off of him. Hinata still drooped everywhere, and she seemed to get heavier and heavier with every block they walked towards the train station they'd taken the night before.

He expected more people to look at the two of them strangely, but the Suna city folk ignored them for the most part, some of them even looking as disheveled as Naruto and Hinata were; they clutched their foreheads and squinted at the sunlight. Naruto knew that Suna had been one of the cities affected by the nuclear warfare that had ravaged most of Southern-sect more than seventy years ago, but instead of emptying out like everyone else, people still found reason to stay, and now all that was left of the place was a series of bars and old buildings; some inhabited and some abandoned. The area he was in was like a bar town, he supposed, where people partied and then dragged themselves back to their homes in the morning.

When he made it to the train station, he found that someone had left the handicap door open, so at least he didn't have to fumble around trying to get Hinata and himself through the turnstiles.

The first several stops on the train with Hinata, he'd sat comfortably in his seat with other people who seemed to be recovering from the night's events, or people who were so used to post drunkards on the train that they completely ignored him, but as they rode into familiar territory, approaching Konoha City, Naruto began feeling more and more uncomfortable. People in suits heading to work, teens going out for the weekend, and other miscellaneous and painfully normal groups of people looked at Naruto and Hinata strangely, undoubtedly fearing for Hinata's life. Naruto didn't even attempt to smile weakly at the people who stared at him. He was used to getting looked at, but the situation was so _weird_.

Before his stop finally came, a little over an hour later, he contemplated taking Hinata home, and then going to his apartment, but he knew what Kiba's sisters were like. Hinata told him that she loved them, even if they did bully her, but Naruto didn't want to risk handing her to them drunk, or high, or whatever it was that made her droop in his arms. Hinata's stepsisters were ruthless against her, and he didn't need that on his shoulders. So he brought her home with him. It was an incredible feat, considering the girl was practically sleeping now, sagging against him unbearably, and catching the attention of absolutely everyone that walked by them.

Naruto's apartment was, thank God, a four minute walk from the train station, but damn him if those minutes didn't seem like _hours_ with every person looking at him like he was some kind of murderer, dragging a helpless woman to her doom. He knew he looked bad, so he couldn't be angry at the passer-by' for long—but did they have to _stare_? Especially if they weren't going to do anything about it. He thought he saw someone fervently speaking into her phone and staring at him with wide eyes, and for a moment he feared that she was contacting the police. Alas, knowing his neighborhood, the woman was probably only talking heatedly to a friend.

Naruto felt his resentment toward his neighbors build as he walked home. The people here were more concerned with themselves than others. Even if they thought Hinata needed help, they just stood there, or went to the other side of the street to avoid him. In a better place, he'd probably have been confronted by now, and more than one person would have tried to take the dark-haired girl away from him; but not here, in this place.

He'd lived here all his life. He'd lived here when it'd only been several houses, lined up side by side for seventeen blocks, and he'd lived here when a government project decided to tear all those houses down and make it public housing instead. The old residents left, but the new ones were the same as the ones who did stay, only poor – like Naruto was.

It took them ten minutes to get to his block, rather than four, for obvious reasons. Naruto dragged Hinata to his apartment building, wishing he had the strength to simply carry her bridal style. But Hinata was a chubby girl, and the blonde didn't want to risk dropping her. So he pulled her sagging body to the elevator, putting his arms around her stomach and her shoulder so thatshe could stay partially upright. He didn't have to press the button, because the elevator was suddenly opening and an old woman came out. She didn't even offer the blonde a single glance before walking passed him, clutching her purse tightly.

Naruto was glad for that and walked into the contraption, an old rickety thing, which was light-years away from the extravagant one he'd been forced into at the party last night. He pressed the button for the fifth floor. Usually he took the stairs but again, for obvious reasons—

Hinata toppled over. Naruto had to let her shoulder go to press the button for the fifth floor, so she tipped towards the ground. The blonde caught her before she could fall completely, bending his knees so he could balance himself. He grunted, because Hinata was so heavy, but managed to hold her up as soon as his stop came.

Hinata was still moaning, and moving her feet to accommodate the blonde, but each step was sloppy. Naruto pulled her towards his apartment door, which was down the hall, and had tried to lean her against the door as he opened it, but the girl drooped down to the floor. Naruto sighed helplessly as he took he reached for his keys.

He fumbled around in his pockets, and his hands came out the other side. Naruto, stood, looking at his pants in shock for a full minute before he sighed loudly and banged the door with his head.

_Damn it_. Why hadn't he thought to look through his pockets before he decided to come here? And his cellphone…

Naruto sighed again, irritably this time. Honestly, what did he think was going to happen? His clothes were in shambles. It would have been a miracle if his things were still in there. And Naruto's luck would provide him no miracles in this life, he knew.

Naruto took a hesitant hold of the doorknob, and twisted.

Naruto blinked.

_Or did it?_ he thought, thinking back on miracles, as the knob turned fully, and opened the door in front of him. Naruto peeked into his apartment, cautious. He could have sworn he'd locked the door behind him before he left last night. In fact, he was sure he did. It was part of his ritual to check if his door was locked before he left. That meant…

Naruto closed his eyes. That meant his father his home. Only he would be so stupid as to leave the door open when he knew how easily someone could come in and steal everything they had.

Naruto pushed the door open with his backside and grabbed the underarms of Hinata. He used all his strength to pull her up, because he didn't want to drag her on the floor, and helped her into his apartment.

The apartment was a tiny thing. Two rooms, one bathroom, a living room that could fit one couch and a tiny kitchen. The stove was broken, and had been for the last few months, and the couch in the living room had bed bugs, he knew, so Naruto had no choice but to drag his friend to his room. Hinata sluggishly moved her feet, making it easier for the blonde, but in the end she fell back down at the door, and Naruto had to use all his strength to carry her to his unmade twin bed, sidestepping the large piano that stood in the corner of his room.

Breathing hard, Naruto stood up straight and leaned backwards to strain the bones of his back and crack them. Hinata moaned once, and he leaned over to push the hair out of her face. He pulled his sheets up to her waist. Naruto thought what she really needed was rest to sleep off whatever it was the insane man had drugged her with.

He left his room and made his way to the room down the hall. He opened it tentatively, not afraid to disturb his father, but wanting to be able to leave unnoticed if his father was in the middle of something.

When he opened the door, he sighed at what he found inside. His father was indeed in there, sleeping with his mouth open, and completely naked. A bottle of some kind of alcohol lay between his fingers on the arm that was strewn over the bed. When the bottle fell, as Naruto knew it would, it would crack into many pieces as it fell to the floor. His father's long, white, mane-like hair looked filthy, as if he'd fallen on the ground more than once, but he didn't have any new bruises on him, from what the blonde could see.

Naruto stepped outside of the room and closed the door, having seen enough. At least there weren't any women with him this time, he thought. The last thing he needed was to take care of yet another person.

He went to the bathroom then to get to some much needed cleaning done. He stepped out of his clothes as soon as he was inside and inspected the damage. Grimacing, he turned his ripped clothes over and over again, trying to figure out what the hell happened. It was like small claws had swiped through his clothes, like someone had tried to rip open the spot on his shoulder, get access to random areas on his backside—and his _back_. Now that Naruto thought about it, he had been laying on that red liquid he'd slipped on in the basement. He looked at the liquid now, dried and sticking to the cloth of his clothes.

It wasn't blood. Blood didn't have this sort of…heavy consistency. Did it? Naruto shook his head. He didn't have things drenched in blood often, so he didn't know.

But it couldn't be blood, because if it was blood, it was _Naruto's_ blood, and the blonde, looking down at himself, saw that he didn't have a scratch on him. He dropped his tattered clothes on the floor and made his way to the mirror. Again, he was assaulted by the state he was in. His face didn't look mangled or bruised, but it looked _tired_, and it was covered in dark stuff. He thought it was more of the red goop, only it had dried and had taken more of a dark brown color. He turned on the water, relieved to find that it was working today, and washed his face thoroughly, scrubbing and scrubbing until he no longer felt the slippery soap he used on his face. He took a cloth and got his neck next, then his shoulders, and his chest. He watched in the mirror the entire time, looking for any cuts or things like that, but found nothing.

He twisted his neck from side to side, to see if there was a mark there, but again nothing. He even scored his hands through his hair. Maybe there was some sort of damage there? His scalp was completely undamaged. Even the large swelling of a bump he'd gotten the day before seemed to have disappeared.

Now that Naruto thought about it…

He looked down at himself, and searched for the cut he knew he had on his leg from catching it on a sharp corner a few days ago. He paused when he found nothing but soft, unmarred skin there.

Had it been on the other leg?

Naruto checked and, no, there was no cut there either. The blonde narrowed his eyes, confused for a moment. Had the cut healed already? He'd been sure it would scar… And he'd never been the type to heal easily. Naruto checked the first leg again, even though he knew it was futile, and again found no cut there. The blonde blinked. Had he imagined the cut?

No. He had not. He frowned and looked back in the mirror. He found his troubled face staring back at him. Blonde, upturned eyebrows, bright, blue eyes, lightly tanned skin, and…and six shallow lines on his face.

Naruto started slightly, and his eyes widened as he leaned forwards into the mirror, looking closely at his face. Was he imagining things? He leaned so far forwards he was almost crossing his eyes to get a better look at his cheeks.

No, he wasn't. Naruto brought a shaking finger to one of the lines on his face. They were like whiskers, three on each side. Naruto squinted. Were they cuts? Did he somehow get hurt last night? But how odd was it to have these lines, three on each side, like this? Did someone think it was some kind of sick joke? Was it a marker? When Naruto traced the first one on his right cheek, the texture was smooth, like it was just his skin. Did that mean it _was_ marker? But that didn't make any sense.

The blonde finished washing his face, expression thoughtful as he stared into the mirror.

The lines were very faint, and when Naruto stepped back again they seemed to almost disappear. But with a slight tilt of his head, more towards the light….

And there they were again. Whiskers. Cut, markers–Naruto supposed only time would tell. For now he wanted to—

There was a sudden scream.

Naruto nearly jammed his foot against the door with the speed he ran out of the bathroom. The scream was definitely Hinata's, and it was coming from his room. He bust the door open and stumbled inside shamelessly – for the moment he was only clad in his boxers.

"Hinata!"

"Oh, son. You're here too," said his father, looking up with a lazy smile. He sat on his knees, nude, on Naruto's bed, and had a very deliberate hand flat on Hinata's crotch. The pale-eyed girl looked horrified and wasn't moving away in fear.

"D…_dad!_" Naruto shouted, mortified. "What the hell!"

His father laughed at him. "I could smell this girl from my room, son. You weren't planning on not sharing were you?"

The blonde stepped forwards, and grabbed his father by the shoulder and pulled him off the bed. The long-haired man stumbled a bit before he collapsed against the wall, grin never leaving his face. "Ha," he began laughing for a while, and shaking his head.

"Are you still drunk?" Naruto asked quietly, peering carefully at his dad. Honestly, he couldn't believe that he and this man were even related. They had no similar features, they had absolutely nothing in common, and the man had talked about dumping Naruto out on his own to fend for himself more than once. A real father wouldn't do that, right?

Naruto shook his head. Who was he kidding? He had to be related to this man. There was plenty of proof. Pictures, birth certificates…

"Are you alright, Hinata?" he asked, turning to his friend.

The girl looked at him with eyes that had begun to fill up with tears, but were receding now. "Y…yes." she said, nodding.

Naruto narrowed her eyes at her and walked forwards. He leaned on the floor beside the bed, and looked into her eyes, checking for that haziness and sluggishness that had been there before. "Huh?" he sounded softly, as he looked at her. "Hinata… You're all right? A while ago you were…"

The girl blinked once, then brought her fist to her mouth and held her head downcast, a nervous habit she had. "What was I doing?" she asked softly. "I don't remember getting here…" She looked around, and her eyes landed on the blonde's father, who was now snoring softly against the wall.

"I think you were drugged," Naruto replied, closing his eyes. "That party, or whatever the hell it was… I don't know how but I got knocked out, and when I woke up you were with some _strange_ guy and—"

"Kankuro."

Naruto blinked. "What?"

Hinata seemed surprised herself, and looked to the side. "Kankuro," she said again, in a whisper. "I remember Kankuro."

Naruto took one of her hands into his. "Do you remember what he did to you? If he hurt you?"

Hinata shook her head. "He didn't hurt me. T-there was another man, trying to do that. H-he clawed at me, Naruto, it was awful." She paused and closed her eyes tight. "Then Kankuro came. He saved me."

Naruto squinted at his friend. "He _saved_ you?" he repeated incredulously.

Hinata nodded. "Yes. And then we went somewhere and I…" she paused, and her eyes seemed to haze a bit.

"And…and what?"

The brunette shook her head. "I…I don't remember. It was like…I was in a dream. All I could see was him…smiling at me. H-he told me everything was going to be all right. After that I woke up here."

Naruto cursed. "Hinata, you were _drugged_. I don't know what it was…but it suddenly stopped working… Did you sleep and then wake up? Maybe the fresh air from outside sobered you up…" Naruto tried to think.

"Drugged?" Hinata asked, widening her eyes. "Kankuro would never drug me."

Naruto paused in his thinking to stare at her. "And how do you know that." He said, failing to use the inflection needed for a question.

Hinata looked away again, tortuously shy-looking. "I-I don't know," she admitted finally. "I just…" She trailed off with a helpless shrug.

Naruto waited for her to say something else, but she didn't. So instead he sighed and stood up. "All right. I'll lend you my shower, and then I'll take you home, okay?"

Hinata widened her eyes, and looked at Naruto desperately. "Ah, c-c-can I stay here?" she asked in a high voice. "M…my stepsisters won't l-like that I've…"

Naruto closed his eyes and relaxed, feeling a little defeated and, somehow, a little relieved. He was afraid of what Hinata's stepsisters would do to her, too, but now that his father was home…he also feared for Hinata's time here.

"It's all right," he said finally. "You can stay here."

Hinata was no stranger to his home. She lived a few train stops from him, in a duplex in another poor part of the city. She'd never had to stay overnight though, although her stepbrother had.

Hinata offered him a small, grateful smile. Naruto smiled fleetingly, and turned to his sleeping father against the wall.

Now. How was he going to pull him out of here?

Naruto decided to drag him by his flowing white hair.

* * *

"Do you believe in ghosts?" the teacher asked, looking up from the book he'd just been reading aloud from. "Shakespeare often talks about paranormal entities with a certain ease. Does that suggest he might believe it?"

When the class said nothing back, he continued. "…Or, you could say that he speaks of it so easily, as if to make fun of the notion that they actually exist. Can any of you find examples of that?"

Again, the class said nothing.

The teacher sighed and hung his head.

Mr. Umino was new. Naruto had a feeling everyone was still trying to get used to the fact that their last professor, Mr. Ibiki, actually quit his job after stating the kids in this school, particularly the ones in his English class, were worthless maggots who would never become anything in life, and would never appreciate the pleasures of an education.

He was right, Naruto thought. Most of the people he went to class with were failures. But that was only a fraction of the school. There was another fraction – the elites who he never had classes with, or the same lunch times with. The blonde wondered why Ibiki couldn't have just decided to transfer there.

"You know, guys," said the teacher, "This is your senior year. School will be over before you know it. It's best you take advantage of the opportunities you have, so you can be better prepared for college."

"Che. Not going to college," said someone behind Naruto. The blonde's ears perked up, because that was distinctly something Kiba would say, but Kiba had been absent for the last three days. Hinata had refused to go home and check on him, claiming if Kiba faced the wrath of his sisters enough not to come to school for a few days, then she didn't want to find out what would happen to her.

Naruto had been willing during the weekend, but it was Wednesday now. He had to take Hinata home. She always wore an enormous white sweater to school, so no one really noticed that she'd been wearing the same clothes so far this week: a black shirt, and a pair of dark blue slacks that only just passed her ankles.

"Not with that attitude you aren't," Mr. Umino, replied, glaring at the student almost…affectionately. "All of you should aspire to go to college. In this rapidly failing economy, competition only grows and—"

"What's college gonna do for me?" asked a girl. "What if I want to be a star in adult movies?"

The class snickered, but the teacher smiled wide. "Well there are colleges for that too!" he exclaimed. "If it's really what you want, and you're ready to work hard—"

"You do realize she means porn star, right?" drawled a boy whose name Naruto knew was Shikamaru.

The class burst out laughing when the teacher instantly paled.

And just like that Naruto saw the new energy rebuild itself in the room. The class liked this guy, and they had accepted him. He wasn't so sure _he_ did. He didn't really care for things like that. But he was willing to admit he definitely preferred this friendly man over the angry tyrant Ibiki had been.

* * *

"Naruto," whispered Hinata. Or at least it was like a whisper, with the soft way she spoke. "I think I might want to go back home tonight."

Naruto smiled at her. "That's great; I'd been planning on checking up on Kiba soon."

The brunette nodded her head, and started when her phone buzzed.

"Is it Kiba?" Naruto asked, raising an eyebrow.

The girl shook her head hastily, and blushed brightly as she began to text back. "N…no. I-it's my lab partner again…"

Naruto narrowed suspicious blue eyes at her. Hinata had not stopped texting this lab partner of hers since the beginning of the school week. He didn't even know she _had_ a lab partner. Naruto shrugged his shoulders dismissively and went back to his food.

They were eating in the lunchroom. Usually Kiba would be there, yapping away about everything from bands he loved to the next party they were going crash that weekend, but this week, with only him and Hinata, the meal was painfully quiet. Not awkward, but quiet. Neither of them ever had anything to say.

Naruto pushed his glasses up, as they were falling down the bridge of his nose, and sniffed. He'd never been so grateful to his glasses than he'd been this week. The shallow lines on his face were almost invisible behind them. He didn't know what it was about glasses, but they somehow took the attention away from his cheeks and brought them to his eyes. They didn't hide the lines – they distracted people from them, and that really was enough for Naruto.

The blonde had monitored the marks for the last three days and had given up on figuring out what they were. They were permanent, from what Naruto could see. No matter how much he scrubbed, they stayed, and when Naruto tried to pick at them or pull at them, it was like they were a part of his skin, no elevation at all. The skin on the marks felt the same way his skin would feel if there hadn't been anything there…

"Ah, N-Naruto… The bell rang..."

The blonde blinked and looked up at Hinata, raising an eyebrow. She was standing with her tray in her hands, looking at Naruto with a timid frown. When he looked around the room, he saw that most of the people were getting up to leave.

"Oh." Had his thoughts really been louder than the bell? He shook his head as he stood and threw his tray into the garbage can in front of the table. Hinata followed closely behind him as they exited the lunchroom, squeezing between the pack of exiting students. There were kids going into the lunchroom as well, so it was no easy feat.

He bumped into one person hard enough for him to topple over, but still he raised a hand to apologize. "Sorr—"

"Watch where you're going. _Dobe_," growled the teen into his face. His black eyes bore into the blonde's and narrowed in a glare.

"Hey, back off," Naruto spat back. It was only a bump, for Pete's sake!

The dark eyed teen glared a bit more before shoving past Naruto. The blonde turned to watch him go, ready to shout something about assholes being the cause of accidents in the hallways anyway, and stopped.

That _hair_. The weird way it stuck up. It was like…the backside of a bird. A duck. Naruto squinted and made a move to follow, but the rush of people was moving him back out of the lunchroom. When he was finally outside, with Hinata trailing right behind him, he looked back.

That boy. It had to be the one he'd seen on the elevator the night before. Unless, of course, duck-butt hair was a new trend he didn't hear about…

"Naruto…" Hinata called out. She was ahead of him now, looking at the blonde with worried eyes.

Naruto waved a hand, efficiently cutting off the question she knew she was going to ask about his recent behavior, and walked her to her next class.

* * *

When Naruto and Hinata finally made it to her house, he hung back as she opened door. Unlike Naruto, she hadn't lost any her things. Her cell phone, keys, and wallet had stayed safely in her pocket. When the door opened, Hinata stepped in tentatively, calling out for Kiba.

"I don't think my sisters are home yet," she said to the blonde. "They usually aren't home until the late evening."

Naruto frowned at her. The sun was already setting… How late into the evening did she mean? He shrugged, followed her into the small house, and walked upstairs where her family lived.

Naruto wouldn't say that Hinata's house was smaller than his; it was just unacceptable for four people. It had four rooms: one for Hinata, one for Kiba, one for the older sisters, and one bathroom. Naruto didn't want to think about how difficult that was – it was already unbearable to share a bathroom with his father alone.

"Kiba!" he yelled out, when Hinata didn't. He went to the room he knew was Kiba's, the one furthest down the hall, and knocked. "Kiba, are you in there?"

Hinata's phone buzzed, and Hinata hastily flipped it open, then closed it back again. Naruto raised an eyebrow at her before he turned back to Kiba's door.

"Kiba!" he called out again, tempted to just bust the door open. He wanted to go home and rest already. "I'm going to push the door open –"

"Naruto?" The blonde blinked. The voice on the other side of the door was close, as if he had his head on the wood. "What are you doing here?"

Naruto hesitated. What was with Kiba's voice? Hoarse and dry, as if he hadn't spoken in days… Or like he had been screaming for hours. "You haven't been in school for days," Naruto started. "And you haven't called."

"…lost my cell phone," the voice on the other side said.

Naruto frowned. "Kiba…can you open the door?"

There was silence on the other side for a long time. Naruto jumped when the door clicked open easily, meaning it hadn't been locked in the first place. The door fell ajar just a bit, but before Naruto allowed himself to step inside he called, cautiously, "Kiba?"

"Hn."

His head whipped to the left, and there Kiba was, clad only in a pair of dark, slimming jeans; they looked suspiciously like the ones he'd worn to the party several days ago. His eyes were hooded, and his lips looked cracked and dry. Random spots on his chest were a harsh red color, contrasting sickeningly against his unmarked skin, which was almost deathly pale.

Naruto let his gaze rove from Kiba to his surroundings. His friend's room was usually a mess, but right now it looked like a storm had torn though it. The bureau drawers were toppled over and the wallpaper had been torn to shreds. Clothes were scattered everywhere and his lamp was smashed to pieces on the floor.

"Kiba," Naruto heard Hinata cry behind him. He blocked her when she tried to walk forwards.

The blonde narrowed his eyes. "…what the hell happened to you?"

The boy's unfocused eyes went to him. "I…" he started slowly. "I've been…_sleeping_," he said dazedly. "Under the bed…"

Naruto hesitated. That wasn't what he'd expected to hear. Although, what did he expect from someone who'd obviously just done drugs? Inebriation screamed all around his friend's body, as if he'd been using drugs for the past four days. Naruto had thought he'd told Kiba to stop but, obviously, the words hadn't been enough. When he looked over at Kiba's side of the bed, he inwardly gasped. It was… It was torn to _shreds_. Pieces of the mattress were ripped and his dark blue sheets were hung over the window, like a makeshift curtain, making the room very dark.

"How…was it?" the brunette continued, "when they…changed you?" he whispered.

"What are you talking about?"

"Did you…see her?" Kiba asked, still whispering. His eyes seemed to glaze over, and he looked up at the ceiling. "She was even more beautiful that time… Everything about her…so perfect, Naruto…" he clenched his fists then. "But _she_ didn't change me…like she _promised_." That part came out in a growl, and Naruto took a step back. "She let…_someone else_…" The teen didn't finish, and he shook on the spot.

He continued to shake there, for several moments, before Hinata's phone once again buzzed. Naruto couldn't help it; he glared at her. "What the hell, Hinata?" he hissed.

The timid girl clutched her phone to her chest, and shook her head. "I-I'm so sorry. I—"

"Who the hell keeps calling you anyway—I know it's not your lab partner," he added when the girl opened her mouth. He didn't let her talk, and took the girl's phone from her.

"N-Naruto!"

He flipped the device open, and stared at the message that was _so_ important to send at this crucial moment—

_You're protected_. –K

"Wha—" Naruto held the phone away from him with raised eyebrows. He almost turned to look at Hinata, with accusation in his eyes, but Kiba took his attention away from that.

"Naruto…" Kiba called, and his voice was in that same whisper. "You're…" His eyes narrowed at the blonde, and he sniffed. "You're not…" he took a step forwards. "How is that possible? I saw him tear you to pieces."

Naruto widened his eyes.

_Like the one who ripped you apart._

A small shiver wracked through him and he took another step back, as the words from the strange man yesterday echoed in his ears. "What are you talking about?" he whispered hotly, not at all liking the look Kiba was giving him.

"You…" Kiba took another step forwards and peered at Naruto, sniffing again. "Are you _human?_"

Naruto choked, taken aback. What kind of question was _that_? "Kiba, I don't know what drugs you're on—"

"I'm not on drugs," Kiba snapped back at him. "Wouldn't be in so much _pain_ if it was the drugs." He took another step forward and his head twitched suddenly, like a dog. When he looked back at Naruto the blonde saw something glinting in his mouth. "Wouldn't be so _hungry_, if it was the drugs," he growled. His fists were clenched and his head twisted again. A sound like a bark came from him, and he snarled. "I'm going to…" he mumbled through gritted teeth.

Naruto stepped back until he was right at the door, and he pushed Hinata further behind him. "We're going to leave now Kiba," he said slowly.

"_No_," and the sound seemed to rumble from somewhere within the brunette. "Don't _leave_ me." There was something desperate and aching in his voice, but the dangerous look in his eyes stopped Naruto from feeling truly sympathetic.

Kiba opened his mouth and the blonde didn't know _why_ but a disgusting smell assaulted his nose. At first it smelled like it came from Kiba himself, but the smell gradually seemed to spread throughout of the room—and it was _foul_. Naruto brought a hand to cover his nose and held it there. He turned quickly to see if Hinata was there, but was glad to see that she was outside the door, able to look at him, but unable to see Kiba.

He turned back to his friend, ready to dash outside with his stepsister.

"Please, Naruto…" It was like two voices were talking to him. One in sadness, and the other in fury. "Don't leave me…"

"How can I stay here? There's obviously something wrong with you…"

Kiba shook his head hard enough that Naruto was afraid he'd cracked his neck. "How is something not wrong with _you_?" He growled at him. "We were supposed to turn _together_." His fists were clenched and shaking at his side and Naruto could see his eyes welling up and getting glassy. No tears fell, but the blonde could see them hovering at his friend's bottom lid.

"Kiba…"

"We were supposed to go through this _together!"_ he shouted again, his voice shrill. Then he bared his teeth.

Naruto took another step back when he saw them, gleaming in the darkness that was getting harder and harder to see through. Naruto thought he saw Kiba's teeth stretch, but he knew he had to be seeing things. The sun was going down, and the sheet Kiba put on the window wasn't helping Naruto's sight.

"It hurts so much…" Kiba continued, his voice ugly. "You have to help me, Naruto… You have…" he paused then, and took a step forwards. "What is that…?" he said, looking at Naruto with wide eyes.

Naruto furrowed his brows together, and tried to calm the heart trying to rip through his rib cage.

"That _smell_," the brunette continued. He sniffed once, and took another step forwards. "It's _you_, Naruto."

He raised his hands, and Naruto couldn't help himself: he jumped backwards and _away_. Kiba himself smelled filthy and Naruto felt something like an invisible force push him away from his friend, like a wind that wasn't there, trying to carry him out of the room.

"Just let me have a bite, Naruto…" Kiba whispered, looking at him with eyes so bright Naruto could see them through the dark. Naruto's own eyes widened back at them, surprised that he'd not noticed the way Kiba's seemed to glow and shine even without the sheen of tears. "One bite… I promise I won't take too much. Y…you won't end up like my sisters…"

Naruto paused. What?

"Just let me have you for a moment," his friend continued in a dry, raspy whisper. "Let me eat you, if only for a second."

Naruto's incredulousness struck him so hard he almost fell to his knees. _Eat_ me? "What the hell is _wrong_ with you?" he asked, his voice trembling. He felt himself being taken back to that…that _dream_ when the enormous man had taken a bite of his _neck_—

"Just one bite, Naruto," and his voice was easing back into the growl again. "I'm starving, Naruto—_please_."

The blonde wanted to say something – but what could he say? There had to be some sort of new substance that made people act this strange way, he thought, trying to stay rational. The odd man from the weekend had talked eccentrically as well and his eyes had glowed the way Kiba's were glowing now, and his skin had been just as pale – albeit a less sickening pale.

Naruto wanted to help his friend. But he wasn't right in the head right now. It would go nowhere if he tried anything.

"Kiba, I'm leaving." He said, trying to use his words carefully. "Wh…when you're better," he stressed, "I'll come back."

"_NO!_"

And Naruto couldn't call the sound anything less than a roar.

Kiba lunged at him, a snarl ripping his throat, and Naruto only had to take a step to the side for his friend to miss him and crash against the wall beside his bed.

Gasping, the blonde looked back at Kiba, who was trying to dislodge his head from the wall he'd crashed into. Worry was the first thing that splashed in him, and he took a step forwards to help the brunette—

But that worry evaporated into a heavy fear, when the teen finally dislodged himself from the wall, and turn his head nearly 360 degrees to glare at Naruto with bright eyes and…

And sharp teeth.

"_Run!_" Naruto screamed, stepping out of the room and closing it behind him. He grabbed Hinata, who'd stayed right outside the door, and pulled her quickly down the stairs, heart beating in his ears.

He heard the door crash open upstairs, like a tornado had smashed through it. Naruto and Hinata were at the bottom of the stairs by then, with the blonde struggling with the locks – why had they locked it? Kiba screamed again and Naruto turned around just in time to see his friend jump down the entire flight of stairs, teeth bared and eyes bloodshot.

Naruto opened the door and ran out, grabbing Hinata by the arm and pulling her with him, but the girl stumbled and fell just at the first steps of the duplex, shouting as she did.

Naruto turned, ready to save her, but Kiba stepped over the now crying girl like she wasn't even there and ran towards the blonde.

Breathing hard, Naruto ran across the street, blinking at the bright orange rays of sunlight that were shining across the horizon.

_Wait_, he told himself, when he'd been about to jump over a bush leading to another house to make his escape. He couldn't leave Hinata. He turned, preparing himself to be tackled by his friend, and clenched his fists at his sides. If Kiba jumped him, and tried to bite him, he would fight back, he _would_.

But the tackle never came.

Naruto opened his eyes.

Kiba was staring at him from across the street, eyes wide and hungry. His feet lay just behind the meter wide ray of dark orange sunlight that illuminated the dark asphalt. Naruto looked from the light, to Kiba, then to the light again. It was thinning gradually, as the sun set. Soon it would be a single string, and it would disappear and leave them in darkness.

Naruto twitched. What was this feeling in him, telling him that he had to get out, before the ray of sunlight disappeared for the night? His eyes darted back to Kiba again, who stood inhumanly still, staring at him with his hands at his sides and his eyes still wide.

He looked behind his friend, to where Hinata had fallen, and there she was, whimpering, and standing up from where she'd collapsed.

Naruto's feet twitched forwards. He had to get her before…

Before what?

Kiba had stepped over the girl like she was nothing, like he hadn't even seen her. Was Naruto the only one he wanted?

Naruto's mouth twitched. "Hinata!" he called out. The girl looked at him, shaking at her spot on the stairs. She kept looking from the blonde to her stepbrother in fear.

Naruto nodded to her. "Come here," he said. "He won't…" he looked at Kiba again, who had not moved in the slightest. "He won't hurt you…"

Hinata looked at him with wide eyes. "I-I…"

The light on the ground had more than halved now, and Naruto felt something in him drop. "Hinata, get _over _here!" he screamed at her.

Like she'd been slapped, Hinata ran forwards, looking at her stepbrother the entire time, and jogged awkwardly to where Naruto was across the street. Just as the blonde thought, Kiba didn't even acknowledge it when Hinata ran forwards.

He _did_ acknowledge, however, when the blonde took the girl and started running down the block.

The teen growled something incoherent, and ran with them, keeping on the other side of the street, on the dark side. He sank to the ground and roared something that sounded like devastation when Naruto turned the block and began running further away with him being, for some reason, unable to follow.

Naruto ran like his life depended on it, not caring for the way Hinata lagged and whimpered at the roughness of his hold on her.

All he knew was that he had to get home and away from Kiba.

Before the sun went down.

* * *

End of Chapter

This chapter was **beta'd** by the lovely **AkizukiSakura**!

Author's Note:

This was kind of another filler, but I hope you guys liked it anyway. Anyone wondering who keeps texting Hinata? And poor Naruto doesn't know what the hell is going on. =/

I hope you guy's enjoyed this. **LFFB will be updated August 19****th**** Sunday!**

Tschüss.


	4. Landing Blows and Underdressed

**Danse Macabre**

IV: _Landing Blows; Underdressed_

**Warnings**: Fast paced. Things happen and you'll think "how did that happen so fast, or how did that escalate so quickly?" Then again maybe that won't be a problem.

* * *

Naruto wished, more than anything, that he had a car. It was dark past five and he was on the _train_. He'd left Kiba on the curb and high-tailed it towards anywhere for a good three minutes before he realized that he had absolutely nowhere to go, nowhere to hide.

And hide from _what_ exactly? His friend that wanted to _eat_ him?

It didn't make any sense.

The blonde had contemplated hiding out somewhere he'd never been before, perhaps take a train to the other side of city, as near to Southern-sect as one could get before the safety border blocked their way. But he decided against that; it would accomplish nothing. Besides, it seemed too drastic of a move.

But going home…

How was that any better? Kiba knew where he lived. That was surely to be the first place he would go.

So what did that leave Naruto with? It left him with nothing.

Nothing, but the police. He was going to go home, and he was going to call them as soon as he got there, so they could apprehend a teenager foaming at the mouth with sharp teeth who wanted to _eat_ him.

Naruto put his hands to his face, and sighed into them. How could anyone believe that story – hell, he couldn't believe it. He would have to settle for saying a threatening man with a knife was after him. But he—

He didn't want Kiba to get _hurt_. The police these days were known for their force, their intolerance. Ever since the ongoing riots a few years back, they'd suddenly became a reliable system determined to keep the peace, even if it meant gunning someone down.

That meant that Naruto had to be careful when he called them. He would have to say that he was simply being stalked or something. They wouldn't go crazy for an unarmed stalker, would they? And even if—

"_This is__…__District K; please watch your step_—"

"Our stop," Naruto said gravely, grabbing Hinata by the hand and getting off.

They went down the steps of the station quickly, bumping into a few people along the way because it was crowded around this time. He didn't let his friend's hand go as they walked to his apartment, and she didn't make a move to pull away. Naruto could feel her tremors, still scared from what they'd been through.

"Ki…Kiba might…"

Hinata didn't have to continue. Naruto knew what she wanted to say. If Kiba really wanted to find them for whatever reason, their house was probably the first place he was going to go. He tightened the hold he had on Hinata's hand and walked a little faster. Naruto decided on what he would do. Call the police. If he went home, and Kiba came, Kiba would have to go through the door. Naruto would just lock it, and not answer anyone who wanted to come in. if worse came to worse they would have to have their rabid friend taken away by the authorities. No harm done. He told Hinata this.

"But…" she started lowly. "Kiba…"

Naruto tightened his hold on her hand. The blonde understood. Hinata didn't want her brother arrested. If anything he was doing drugs again, and getting arrested for something heavy like that, especially at his age, would probably end with the teen in jail for a while.

But…Naruto hissed under his breath, frustrated. Could he really blame all of that on drugs? It was almost as if his friend was…infected somehow. Did something happen to him at the party? Was he given another one of the experimental formulas weirdoes liked to give out at sketchy parties? The blonde pursed his lips. That had to be it. Kiba was on some wicked type shit, and it was making him crazy. Sooner or later whatever he took would wear out and he would be back to normal, and unapologetic of his previous behavior, like always.

They reached the apartment in less than seven minutes.

"If he comes by," Naruto started, knocking on the door. He still didn't have his keys, and he hoped that his lame excuse for a father wasn't asleep at the moment, "we'll speak to him through the door, see if he has anything interesting to say…" he looked at Hinata. "If he's still being…weird," it was the best euphemism he could think of, "then we have to call the police."

Hinata made a face.

Naruto grimaced. "No waterworks, okay? We have to do it. It's him or us."

"But Kiba's your friend. My brother."

"Yeah, well Kiba isn't being a very good friend or brother right now." He replied angrily. "He's on something. Something bad. It's probably got his brain out of whack…"

Hinata made the face again – a screwed up type thing she made when she was angry and scared. "Kiba…he wouldn't…" she seemed at a loss for words. "He said he wouldn't do those types of things anymore…" she countered, lamely.

"He lied." Naruto said simply, frowning ahead. Was his father really sleeping?

"But…Kiba _promised_." She stressed.

"Kiba promised everything would be okay at that damned party we were forced to go to. Why would I trust anything else he says no—"

"But everything did turn out okay." Hinata replied, and she turned to face the blonde fully now, holding her hands together and against her heart. "Kiba kept that promise. We got out okay."

Naruto paused in his glaring at the door, and turned to Hinata with a raised eyebrow. "What are you trying to say?"

Hinata blinked, but didn't look away. "I-I'm saying," she started lowly. "That it's not…" finally her eyes averted, and Naruto took a deep inhale of frustration. "I-it can't be drugs." She concluded lamely. "Kiba doesn't do _that_ type anymore."

Naruto sighed and knocked on the door again, harder. The only reason why he wasn't panicking was because he knew that if Kiba _was_ going to follow him here, he wouldn't make it for another hour or so. Trains to District K and all urban areas ran every hour on the hour when night came, to discourage people from going home or going out late. He lived far enough from the school that his friend would result to public transportation, instead of walking, and if he did decide to walk, it bought the two of them even more time.

"Yeah, but what are you saying?" he asked the girl, not really interested in her answer. Hinata was a sweet and sentimental girl who wanted to see the good sides to everything, put traits above bad traits in every situation. The plea she made for her brother would be irrelevant.

"I'm saying it's not…it's not drugs." She whispered that, and Naruto turned to look at her again.

"Then what is it?"

"It's…something _else_." She said, her eyes wide. "Not drugs. It's…a change…He's different now."

"Yeah," Naruto said, sounding sarcastic, "he's a druggie. Again."

"_No_!" the stress Hinata used was enough for Naruto to pause. "It's…more." She stopped there, and Naruto gave her an expectant look.

"Hinata…"

She shook her head, seemingly in frustration, "It's different." She said, whispering hotly. "He's different. And we…we have to help him."

Naruto shut his eyes. "We'll help him by calling the police on him, so they could sentence him to another damned detention where he can get help."

Hinata looked like she was about to say something, but the click of the door stopped her. She and the blonde turned to face the door, and they watched as the handle turned and finally pulled slightly ajar. Naruto pushed it open and stepped inside, savoring the sound of his father's small shout when he banged the door in his face.

"What took you so long?" He asked, turning to face the white haired man.

Said man was rubbing his nose lightly. He was in an awkward half-dressed state – a long shirt and a small pair of boxers. Or at least, Naruto hoped there were boxers under there.

"You're home early." The father said, yawning. "Hope you bought yourself something to eat. Aint' nothin' in here."

Naruto scowled at his father. "My day was horrible, thanks for asking."

The white haired man looked confused for a moment. "I didn't ask." He said plainly. Then he laughed and waved a tired hand. He paused when he saw Hinata standing by the door. "You're here again, huh." He said, smirking, and giving the teenager an obvious once over. "Gonna take down those walls and fuck a real man?"

"Damn it, dad." Naruto said, taking Hinata's hand and pulling her way from his father.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Jiraiya."

"Ah, come on." The man said, not taking his eyes off of Hinata. "What's my son got that I don't? Is it the blonde hair? Don't let it fool you, chitterling. Kid's got an old soul."

"Let's go, Hinata." Naruto said, pulling the girl away. Not even a minute in his presence and he'd had enough of his father.

"What, you two gonna have sex now? At _least_ let me join."

Naruto didn't bother shouting at his dad for that. The old man knew very well that Hinata wasn't like that to him, and he continued on with his dirty jokes anyway.

"There's nothing more tragic than fine women being wasted on boys." Jiraiya called out, laughing.

Naruto kept his growl to himself, and opened his bedroom door with the hand that wasn't holding onto Hinata's. He thought for a moment, about warning his father of Kiba, but he decided against it. If he had his way then maybe his friend would do some damage to his dad before they inevitably had to call the cops on him.

"Oh, wait," The man called.

Naruto paused with a hand on his doorknob and turned to look at his father down the hall. "What?"

"Not you, brat." He said, giving his son a dismissive glare. "Hinata, you hungry?"

"I thought you said there was no food." Naruto called out, frowning.

"No food for _you_." His father replied simply, and turned to the kitchen so that the blonde couldn't see him anymore. "Now Hinata, what would you like? We've got cereal, canned beans…"

Naruto sighed loudly enough to drown the rest of his father's horrible options, and opened his door.

He paused.

"Um."

He heard Hinata gasp behind him.

Naruto took a step inside his room, letting go of his friends' hand. He swallowed.

His piano.

It was gone.

"Dad…" he said quietly, his heart beat louder than the sound of his voice.

"_Dad_," he called out again, leaving his room in a rush, almost knocking Hinata over. He was in the kitchen, standing behind Jiraiya in less than a second.

"Dad." He said under his breath.

"Hn." The man who stood in front of the sink with his back to his son responded lamely, without turning around.

"Where's my piano?" It came out as a whisper.

No answer.

"_Dad_," Naruto stressed.

"Huh?" The man asked, finally looking over his shoulder. "What?" he sounded annoyed.

"Where's my piano?" the blonde asked again, and it took a lot not to say it between his teeth.

His father stared at him for a moment, before slight understanding passed across his face. "Oh, that." He said, dismissively, turning to face the sink again. "I sold it."

"…."

"…."

"What." Naruto couldn't think of anything else to say.

"I sold it." Repeated his father.

"You…"

_I sold it._

Naruto took a step back, blinking rapidly, and breathing the same way. He couldn't have heard right. His father didn't really…he couldn't have _really_—

Naruto shut his eyes. "Oh my God." He had to breathe in deeply to calm his heart, or else it would explode in his chest. "Oh my _God_."

"Naruto…" and that was Hinata, appearing behind the blonde, Hinata, who knew the story behind the piano, who knew how much it _meant_ to the blonde—

"Dad," and there was tugging in his chest that made his voice come out thick. "_What_?"

"I _sold_ it." the man said, and he had the audacity to sound exasperated. "Some nice man came. He said the piano was nice, so I gave it to him."

"You _gave_ it to him?" Naruto asked disbelievingly, completely ignoring the other parts of the sentence.

"Don't be silly." The man said, laughing. "I didn't just _give_ it to him. He paid for it."

Naruto closed his eyes. "Oh my God." He cried, putting his hands to his face.

"Naruto," Hinata called to him again, putting a hand on his shoulder, but the blonde knew that she wouldn't even begin to understand the pain he was feeling right now. That piano, that beautiful white sleek thing, the only thing he had to remember his mother by—

"Naruto, I'm so sorry."

Naruto pulled away from Hinata and walked to the corner of the room. "Just stop." He told her. "Go back into the room. I'll..." the image of the piano flashed through his mind, "I-I'll make you something to eat," he finished lamely, but he couldn't think, he couldn't _think_.

"Naruto—"

"Just forget it!" He snapped, slapping the hand she extended away from him. "It doesn't matter, just – _shit_." He turned to his father angrily. "How could you just—" he stopped, trying to keep his anger in. " How could you _sell_ it?!" he finally exclaimed, but his voice was too broken to go above a simple shout. "How did you even get it outside – h-how could you let someone _take_—" he breathed in, in another attempt to keep the anger down, "you know how much I _loved_—"

"Naruto, _please_." His father said, turning around and looking exasperated. "We've got enough money to get the T.V going for a year now. Remember late night T.V?" he asked, smirking knowingly. "I know you miss late night T.V."

Such a strong bout of incredulity took over the blonde that he was at a loss for words for a moment. Finally – "Fuck _you_, dad! How _could_ you?!" he screamed.

"Son," started the white haired man, smiling wide and mockingly. "If you want another damn piano, get a fucking job. Buy a _new_ one."

Naruto blinked, disbelievingly. His fists shook at his sides and his eyes were narrowed painfully in his incredulity. "The piano was special, d-ad," he hated how his voice broke. "You…you knew _that_. How…how could you give something of _mom's_ away like that—"

His father paused. He'd turned to face the sink again, but now he turned around to face his son once more. His eyes were dull. "Son," he started, his voice somber. "You know I never loved that whore." Then he turned around to attend to the sink once more.

Naruto stood there, behind his father. His fists ceased to shake at his sides, his body ceased to tremble, even his heart seemed to stay still.

_Never loved that _whore_._

Naruto twitched.

No, it wasn't a twitch. It was a snap – a sudden and awkward turn of his head.

"Hinata, are you hungr—"

The man didn't get to finish.

And Naruto didn't understand the force that brought him from one end of the room, to inches away from the man's face, nor did he understand the force that pulled his fist back and swung forward to collide with his good for nothing father's nose.

There was a crack, Naruto _heard_ the crack—

And it was glorious. His father's head was socked onto the cabinet above the sink immediately behind his head. Naruto pulled him forwards to punch again, this time from above, so his Jiraiya's head could crash into the sink. He had him by the collar now, and was punching the older man repeatedly, nonstop. He heard screaming, too low to be Hinata's but too high to be his. Was that his father screaming? His father begging for mercy?

He wasn't going to listen.

Naruto was caught off guard when he was suddenly pushed backwards. But it was more than a push; it was like an enormous shove that brought his body smashing onto the floor. His father was on top of him then, swinging his own fists and seething like a mad dog. All the contact he made was lost on the blonde – he couldn't feel them.

He flipped their positions with ease, and began to return the favor with his fists, a nonstop pounding like he would die doing this he would die before he would stop he never wanted to stop to stop he would die he would die beating his father to death because there was no way he could let this end, to let this glorious feeling of his bloodied fist ramming into the concaved face of his dead beat dad—

"Naruto!"

It was the sudden view arms around him that stopped the blonde. He paused, his eyes widening for a heartbeat, before paying attention first to the warmth that the plump arms around his shoulders brought, then to the bloodied mess that was his father below.

A sound came out of him – something like chocked disbelief.

"Cugh – dad?"

No response.

Naruto scrambled up from his straddled position above the white-haired man. If he could be called that anymore. Red covered every inch of the older man's mane.

"N-Na-Nar-rutoo…"

Hinata's sobs came crashing into him, a loud mess of gasping and moaning.

"I…" he didn't know what to say. Was his father…

Was he dead?

"_Shit_," he cursed, dropping down to shake Jiraiya. "Dad? Dad!" He had to ignore the horrible way his father's face was caved in. He couldn't even see his eyes, damn it Naruto couldn't even see his eyes—

"Dad!" he cried out again, fear gripping him like iron coils. "Shit, dad, come on – _don't do this to me_." And why were tears coming out of his eyes, he thought offhandedly. Tears for the man who made his life miserable, the man who he probably never loved, and who'd probably never loved him in return—

"Dad! Dad!"

"Narutooo…" and that was Hinata again, being useless and crying and shaking—

Naruto stood up suddenly, searching the room for a moment, before he found what he was looking for and dashed to it.

"W-w-what a-are you d-doing?" Hinata sniveled, standing awkwardly beside Naruto's lying father, and holding herself.

"I'm calling the police." The blonde said gravely, dialing the number on his father's cellphone he'd found and putting it to his ear.

Hinata said nothing and only stared at the other teen. Naruto knew what was going on through her mind. She cared for him, but she also wanted to do what was right. It was only right for Naruto to call the police, even if it meant they might take him away—

"H-hello?" he said, when he heard a voice on the other end. "I-I'm calling to report…the…there's been a accident. Yeah. Yeah. My address?" he gave it to them. "I-It's my father. I…I think I killed him."

"Naruto…"

The blonde glared at her, tacitly telling her to _shut the fuck up_ while he was on the phone. "I-I just started punching him," he continued on the phone. "No, I'm not drun—"

"Gnngn…"

Naruto froze, turning to the bloody mass on the floor. "Da—?"

He had to stop though, when his father groaned again, and brought a mangled hand to his bruised face.

"Aahh….aaahh…." and that was quiet wailing from Hinata, who was holding folding hands to her heart and looking at Naruto's dad like she didn't know if she should have been glad or horrified.

Naruto looked at his father with wide eyes, the phone shaking in his hand, as the man sat completely up and began to touch himself, flinching the entire time.

A distant, and muffled "_Hello?...Sir? Hello? Are you there__…__"_ came from the receiver.

"Hang up the damn phone." Came the glurbled voice of his father. He spit out one tooth. Two. Three. "God damn." He grumbled, standing up from the floor, with a bit of a struggle. When he was standing he stretched, grunting the entire time, before he walked leisurely back to the sink.

It was when he turned the water on that Naruto decided to speak.

"Dad?"

The man looked at him once, before looking back to the sink. He was washing his hands. "You have to leave here." His father murmured.

Naruto blinked. "What?" it was so unnerving watching his father speak while his face was still a mass of misplaced skin and—

"You have to leave here." The adult repeated. "For a while anyway."

Naruto struggled with what to say next. Leave? Why? "A-are you okay?" he whispered. "I'm…I'm so sorry…"

Naruto stiffened when his father laughed. A long throaty laugh that he knew had to hurt.

"You're not sorry." The man finally said, shaking his head. "You've been wanting to do that since the day that bastard forced me to take care of you."

"Wha—?" Naruto was going to say something else, but stopped when his dad dipped his face down and began washing his face. He wouldn't hear what Naruto had to say with his head underwater. At a loss, the blonde looked at Hinata.

She was staring at his father, not shaking anymore, but there was obvious shock in her eyes and body language.

The man gasped when he raised his head from the water. When he turned around, Naruto had to look away. His father's face, if possible, looked better when it was covered with blood.

"This is what you're gonna do," started the white haired man, leaning against the sink. "You're gonna go back 2K and you're gonna—"

"Wait, what?" Naruto interrupted stepping forwards. "2K, what? Dad, you're hurt. I'm not going anywhere; we have to—"

"Please," his father said, raising a disregarding hand. "I've waited hours behind alleys for _broken bone_s to set." He said, raising his eyebrows.

Naruto made a face. Hours for broken bones to set? That didn't make any—

"Now the police'll be here sooner or later." His father continued. "You'll be gone by then." He said sternly. "And you're taking Hinata with you."

That was the first time Naruto ever heard him say Hinata's name without the inflection of sexual intentions—

"2K's a trip, but you'll make it in time, I'm sure—"

"In time for what? 2K? What?" Naruto stepped forwards again. "Dad we need to get you to a hospital; I have to—"

"Listen to me!"

Naruto stopped, his eyes widening. His father's voice seemed to go into him somehow. The demand searched for his core somehow, then sat on top of it, waiting for Naruto to listen. The blonde shook from his spot, and eyed his father until he began to speak again.

"2K," the man repeated. "2K _Club_. You were there with your dog friend and Hinata last weekend. I hope you haven't forgotten the way, 'cause you're going there again."

"But—"

"Shut up, boy!"

Again the man's voice went into the blonde somehow, silencing him again.

"You will do as I say, or so help me," his father paused, glaring at his son for a long moment before he shook his head. "Can't believe I let them make me put up with you for this long…" he grumbled under his breath. "Listen to what I say, kid. You take the train to 2K, and you come back home when they're done with you."

"Dad, what are you talking about—"

"The man, who came here." The man said, exasperated. "He left a note. For the girl," he pointed to Hinata. "But I'm not stupid enough to think you weren't invited too." He said looking back at Naruto.

"What the hell are you saying?" Naruto's pleas were coming out like a desperate cry now, and his frustration brought anger, and—

"What kind of teenager are you?" Jiraiya asked, shaking his head at his son. "I'm giving you permission to go to a club—"

"Dad, _you're hurt_!" Naruto exclaimed.

"And I said this is nothing!" Jiraiya exclaimed back. "God damn, boy, you really got a thick skull you know that? Just do as I say. Loosen up, a little. And be careful."

"How can you say that to me?" Naruto asked, and his voice came out like a breathy frustrated thing. "None of this makes sen—"

Jiraiya said nothing, for a long time. He simply stared at his son. Finally, "Your piano will be there…most likely." He said.

Naruto paused.

"Or at least," his father continued slowly. "It should be. I don't know where else Kankuro would put it." He finished thoughtfully. "Unless of course—"

"Kankuro?" Naruto and Hinata cried on in unison.

"Dad—"

"Mr. Jiraiya—"

They began at the same time. They stopped, realizing this, and looked at each other.

Naruto was the first to look away, "Dad, what the fuck is going on—"

"It'll all make sense in due time—"

"No, _don't_ give me that," the blonde hissed, finally close enough to his father that he could touch him. "How do you know Kankuro? Why do you want me to go to Suna? We're _not_ going back there—"

"God in heaven." Jiraiya cried, turning from his son and looking at the sky. "Why am I stuck with this boy? Naruto," he said, talking lowly. "Please, for all that is good, take the stick out of your ass, and go with the flow for once. Go to Suna. Come back. Tell me about it. Simple."

"But why—"

"Then I guess you'll never see that damned piano again—"

"If you hadn't _sold it_—"

Naruto was interrupted by an enormous knock on his door. "What's all that damned noise!" shouted a woman from the other side. She was a neighbor that often came to tell people of the floor to quiet down. "I'm calling the police!'

Jiraiya cursed under his breath. "Shit, now look what you've done. Everybody act normal." He commanded, going to the door. Before he made it, he turned to face Naruto with a glare. "As soon as I'm done with this – you go. Got it?"

"But—"

"_You go_." The man interrupted gravely. "Now." He opened the door. "Why _hello_, ma'am."

* * *

The 2k Club.

It wasn't like before. There were no people giving him weird looks. There were no bouncers letting people in. There was no _line_. It was an empty alleyway.

Hinata stood behind him, trembling with the sudden cold, and tired, like Naruto was. It was a long ride, just like it'd been the first time. One had to pass two cities to get to Suna from Konoha.

Naruto still couldn't believe he was here. Naruto still couldn't believe he'd…

He'd hurt his father. The entire ride, he'd thought of how effortless it had been, how relentless he had been, in attempting to kill his father. He could say that now – he'd been trying to _kill_ his father. All the anger he'd felt, all the pain that had accumulated over the years had spilled out of him in the form of fists to the man's face.

Naruto clenched those fists now, feeling the texture of his soft hands, not even calloused or bleeding for the blows he landed on his dad. He'd almost killed him.

And his father had gotten up like it was _nothing_.

Naruto twitched. That…that was what stopped him the most, what made his mind topple over in confusion, and wonder. His father had gotten up like it was _nothing_. How was that possible? And…and the things he'd said – waited in an alley for _bones to set_? What had he been talking about?

And then he sent him and Hinata here.

Naruto eyed the door that they went through a few nights before, his eyes wary.

"It…" and that was Hinata, putting both hands on his back and peeking from behind his shoulders. "It looks empty…"

Naruto made a small noise of agreement. He was half surprised that Hinata had decided to come. His dad said that a letter had been sent to _her_. They'd talked for a while on the train, about who could have sent it, and Hinata seemed sure that it was Kankuro who for some reason she seemed excited to see.

"Do you think…there's anyone inside?"

Naruto shrugged his shoulders. He knew they would look strange to anyone who saw them, just standing in an alley and staring a door. There were actually two doors. The first door that they'd entered through that fateful night, and the second door a little further down the alley that they'd exited from.

Naruto stared at that door from his position in front of the first door.

"Maybe…" he started, softly, taking Hinata's hand. "Maybe it'll be better if we go there…?" he walked to the second entrance, and put his ear to it when he reached it. Silence. He frowned.

Why the hell did Jiraiya send them here? He looked at Hinata with raised eyebrows. "It doesn't sound like anything is going on here. I bet the door's not even…" he paused, turning back to the door and putting his hand on the handle. He turned it, prepared for the handle not to budge.

_Cli-chick._

Naruto paused. The handle turned the whole way. If he just pulled, the door would open. He turned to face Hinata, his eyes wary. She stared at him, two fists to her chest – another nervous condition – before she nodded her head slowly. Naruto narrowed his eyes at her before he nodded his own head, and pulled the door open.

Two things happened almost at once.

First was the bright warm lights that blinded Naruto and Hinata.

Second was the noise.

Music.

Loud music. Pianos, violins, saxophones…

Hinata made a gasping noise from behind Naruto as his eyes were still adjusting. He'd gotten the worst of the light since he'd been ahead of her. But now his eyes were coming to themselves, and focusing on the sight before him.

The door, like before, was at the top of tall stairs. Naruto remembered those stairs being rickety and dark, and rusted, but now they shone red with paint and had ribbons on the railing, and carpeted steps. The once nasty walls of the 2K Club were now a sort of bright mauve color that contrasted strangely with the red stairs…and the colored dresses, suits, and robes that the people down the stairs wore.

Naruto blinked.

It was a party.

And not…not a party he'd ever seen in person before. All the women were tall, and wore long elegant gowns that were form fitted, and glossed with the reflection of the … yes that was a chandelier hanging from the ceiling. All the men wore plain colored suits and robes, and everyone had a glass of red wine.

And Naruto felt like he was going to vomit.

There was…something in the air. It was closing in on him, like a thousand hands trying to choke him. His eyes were squinted, and he was trying hard not to cough and give himself away.

Hinata made a noise behind him, like a sound of surprise, before she attempted to walk ahead of Naruto. The blonde turned to her, confused. He grabbed her arm before she could go down the stairs.

"Hinata," he hissed under his breath. "What the hell are you—"

"Kankuro," Hinata said, not even keeping her voice down, and pulling away from the blonde. "I see Kankuro." Her voice sounded dazed, and she pulled hard, her footsteps thankfully making no noise on the carpet.

"Hinata, wait, _wait_," the blonde continued to hiss. Why the hell was the girl being this way? Didn't she understand that they obviously didn't belong here? "Hinata we have to—" the girl kept pulling away from him anyway, tugging and trying to make it down the stairs. Naruto held on to her shoulders and tried to keep her still, and his frustration was turning his voice into a growl. "Hinata….Hinata, _stop_ – Hina—…_Hinata!"_

Silence.

Naruto froze.

The music stopped playing.

The people stopped talking.

The only noise was the sound of Hinata's quiet whimpering struggle as she continued _still_, to pull away from the blonde.

Naruto swallowed once. Then he looked up.

_Mistake_.

The entire room, which contained, perhaps a hundred people in state of elegant dress, were staring at the two of them. They stood deathly still, like statues, eyes like hawks.

"I-I…" Naruto took a step back, trying to take Hinata with him. "I-I'm so sorry." He said, and his small voice barely carried his words throughout the now quiet room. "I'm so sorry…" he repeated, his voice now a whisper, and his eyes still wide, as he took yet another step back. He thought he was almost out the door, when Hinata gave a sudden harsh tug, and ran down the stairs.

"Hinata—!"

"Well, well, well."

The new voice seemed to have power of it's own, cutting Naruto's shout before he could finish, and effectively silencing him. Naruto watched helplessly as Hinata ran down the stairs to the arms of the man who spoke..

Naruto made a noise, stepping forwards before deciding to stay back. "Wh…" he couldn't even figure out what question to ask.

The man at the bottom of stairs wore a blood red button down shirt, tucked into black slimming dress pants. Hinata had her arms wrapped around his torso and was staring up at him with a dazed look. Kankuro smirked at Naruto.

"So you came after all."

Naruto said nothing, only inhaled once, and held it, waiting for the man to continue. There was still something – something _in the air_, choking him, making him feel like he had to leave as soon as possible.

There was still no movement from the rest of the crowd. They were all staring at Naruto with no real expression, just blank stares. There was movement at the end of the room, and Naruto's eyes flicked to that movement. His mouth went dry when he saw a gorgeous woman walking to where Kankuro was, her eyes narrowed in anger. It took a moment for Naruto to realize that it was the same woman he saw exit the car with Kankuro that weekend.

"Kankuro," she called out. And people parted to the side to let her pass. "What's going on? Who is this? Who are you?" she turned to look at Naruto, her eyes still the bright green color Naruto didn't think was possible. When she moved around the bad air seemed to follow her and Naruto caught a whiff of something that almost made his knees buckle in disgust.

"Look at him." Kankuro said, nodding his head towards the blonde and laughing. He put an arm around Hinata, holding her close. "He can't stand to be around us. He's the one I told you about."

The blonde woman turned to look at Naruto once again, her eyes narrowed and her fists to her sides. She whipped to face the brunette again. "_Why did you bring him here_?" she hissed, and her voice sounded like it could scratch walls. "We have _guests_." She hissed again.

When Kankuro only laughed at her, she hissed wordlessly and turned to face the people behind her. "Please," she started, sounding gracious, "ignore all of this. My brother's been playing games again."

The entire room seemed to relax, and the talking started up again. No one took his or her eyes off Naruto.

"Why is there a human at this event?" asked someone at the very back. "Was there to be a public execution?" he asked genuinely. Everyone around him laughed.

"He _isn't_ human." called Kankuro, turning to the crowd with the same grin. "That man—"

"Barely a man; just look at him! He's just a boy!" said someone, interrupting Kankuro. More laughter.

"You musn't tease us this way, Kankuro-summa." Said a woman who was almost directly behind the man. Her eyes kept going from Hinata to Naruto. "I've barely begun to drink, and if you dangle a human in front of me like this—"

"Like I said," Kankuro, continued, raising a hand. "He isn't human—"

"Forget what he is." The angry blonde woman interrupted, and the smile on her face was forced. "Kankuro you take your toys and get out of here."

"Temari—"

"You will take them, and _leave_." She growled.

"Oh, come now, Temari-summa." Said a man, coming up from behind her. He also had his eyes on Naruto. It was as if no one in the room could take their eyes off of him. The who'd spoken was handsome, with hair slightly lighter than Kankuro's. He put an arm around Temari's waist and the woman looked annoyed. "This has been a pretty dull affair so far. What do you have to show us?" he turned to Kankuro then, giving the man a charming smile.

Kankuro returned a smile to match his charm, and looked back at the stairs. "Come down, Naruto." He called out, nodding his head. "No one here wants to hurt you."

A chorus of laughter all around.

Naruto hesitated, his feet poised to run down and grab Hinata and get the hell out of there. But he saw the obvious flaws in that plan.

"Come on now," Kankuro repeated, the smile never leaving his face.

Naruto scowled. They were treating him like a child. And Kankuro was speaking in a way he didn't before – with a sort of etiquette that juxtaposed his loose way of speaking the other day.

And Naruto didn't understand what the hell was _going on._ He needed to get over this fear of people in _dresses_, and find out what the hell he was doing here. He braced himself, and stood up straight.

But what was that smell? he thought, grimacing. It was coming from the people below him, he knew it. They all smelled like rotting things, like dead bodies soiling beneath dirt.

But he couldn't let them see how badly this was affecting him. He had to look strong, or they would…

Well he didn't know what they would do. Naruto didn't understand anything about what was going on here.

But he would stay strong.

"My d-ad," he began, his voice loud, but breaking. He stared right at Kankuro as he spoke, and he hoped the confidence he had in his voice wouldn't betray the nervousness he was feeling inside. "…told me to come here. He said that you had my piano."

Kankuro's grin, if possible, fanned wider across his face. "He said that, did he? And actually _sent_ you here, too? That's some father you have."

"Kankuro, I'll only say this one more time," started Temari, trying to pull away from the man who had his arms around her. "You take your toys, and _you leave_."

Kankuro looked at the blonde woman disapprovingly. "You're worse than our little brother ever was. All work and no play." He turned away from her then, and clapped twice. Two figures came walking towards the man from further back in the room. Both of the men were holding trays of food.

Naruto's eyes widened when he saw one of them.

It was the boy from the elevator, the one who'd bumped into him in lunchroom earlier today.

Said boy carrying the tray refused to look up. His head stayed down, and his hair covered most of his face, but Naruto knew he was who he thought he was; he couldn't mistake that wild hair. The other one had shorter hair and kept his head down as well.

"Right, then." Kankuro said, turning to the crowd. "If you'd bare with me this evening," he began, and everyone shifted to look at him as his voice was loud and carried itself easily around the room. "That boy," he said pointing towards Naruto, "attended one of my affairs the weekend past, and found himself bitten by one of the _malé-sems_ – a no-breed!"

There was a rumbling all around, hissing and sounds of distaste.

"But he smells human!" said someone from the back.

"Yes, it seems that way," Kankuro continued, his voice coming down to a murmur as he narrowed his eyes at Naruto. "In fact, when I confronted him the next day, after he'd risen from the pool of his _own_ blood, he did not have the urge to feed. And," he continued, his grin wide, "he stepped into the sunlight – and didn't burn!"

Gasps all around.

"What the hell are you talking about, Kankuro?" hissed Temari next to him. "You've obviously made a mistake." She turned to look at Naruto, a scowl on her face. "The boy's obviously human. I can smell him."

"Temari, Temari, Temari – what _sine-anima_ makes the mistake of thinking one was bitten when they weren't? Not I." Kankuro said, looking mockingly hurt at the woman. "I saw it with my two eyes."

"If what you say is true," said the man with his arms around Temari, "then what is he…?" he asked, looking at Kankuro with raised eyebrows.

Kankuro smirked at him, shrugged his shoulders. "I suppose we'll find out." he turned to Naruto then. "Boy, do you know what you are?"

Naruto, while this conversation went on, had his hand to his face. For some reason a wave of nausea over took him as more of the people walked closer to the stairs to speak to Kankuro, intrigued with whatever they thought Naruto represented.

"Of course you don't." Kankuro murmured. "Look at him. Nausea's overtaking him now…"

"Why? What does he smell?"

"Us." Temari replied easily. "Our mother expressed similar distaste."

"Hmmm..."

"I still don't believe your story to be true, Kankuro-summa." The man besdie Temari admitted. "And even if it were true, humans carry strange disease. Perhaps some kind of mutation occured in the transfo-"

"I know what I saw." Kankuro said lowly, looking at Naruto. "Tell them, boy. Tell them of how you were bitten."

Naruto stared at him. Or – tried to. He felt like his stomach was going to flip over on itself. "Mmngh – we—" he stopped, doubling over. "Give," he gasped out, after several moments, "Hinata back to me…" The demand came out much weaker than he wanted it to.

Kankuro frowned then. "You're boring me, boy. I suppose in the meantime we'll give everyone here a show." He murmured, turned back to the crowd. "I'll have one of the _desi-demi's_ bite him." he gestured to the two men holding the trays of food. "Then we'll throw him into Sol in the morning and you'll all see for yourselves."

Everyone erupted into another chorus of gasps and sounds of distaste.

"Bitten by a desi-demi?" said the man next to the blonde woman. He was staring right at the tray holders. "A fate worse than death."

Kankuro shrugged. "If I'm wrong Sol will kill him. But I'm not wrong. We'll find out what kind of blood is in the boy sooner or later…" he was looking at Naruto again, his smile gone but his face serious. "He'll be of use to us in long run, I know it." That line was murmured, but it seemed to ring in Naruto's ears.

Naruto's ears. They were heating up. It was like an allergic reaction was flaming across his face and chest – what was in the air?

"Sai. Sasuke." he heard Kankuro say, but his voice was so far away.

"_Feed_."

And then Naruto couldn't listen anymore. He felt himself fall to his knees, the carpet easing the blow, and watched, before darkness completely enveloped his vision, as the two teens made their way up the stairs, with eyes narrowed, and teeth bared…

* * *

End of Chapter

Word Count: 7,673

**Authors Notes:**

Whoops. Had class all day so I forgot to post this.

There was going to be more to this chapter, but I decided to save that for later. I hope you guys enjoyed this, and I hope it wasn't too confusing. **Someone asked me if this story would be as slow as Light in the Fifth Floor Bedroom.** Answer: this story will be like a bullet in comparison. Now if only I just updated faster too, haha.

Anyway, thanks for reading. Again, I hope you liked it, and I hope I didn't lose my readers for making them wait to long. :(


	5. Into the Sun

**IMPORTANT: **I made some changes to the last chapter, just in the final section – it's like four or six lines that I changed. If you don't wanna go back and read I'll just tell you what I did: Kankuro and all the others don't know what Naruto is, so the word **Aeterna never comes up** and it will probably never be used again in the story ._.

**Warnings**: Beacoup de references to heat, fire, etc. Maybe graphic for some people but this is rated M so no one under 16 should be reading this anyway.

**Danse Macabre **

**V**: _Into the Sun_

* * *

Naruto wakes up to a stinging so painful that the scream that wants to tear his already burning throat comes out like a weak, dying wail. It is like a two-ton block of stone rests on his chest, and each breath stings his sides and makes spasms echo across his back.

"_Kill him!"_

Another wail comes out of him, and even the tears that roll down his cheeks sting what feel like open gashes on his face and make him cry out again. He tries to say something. He tries to _see_. But he is blinded. Not by black but by white. Everything is a stark bright flush that carries a sharp signal to his brain, and makes it ache and pulse against his hot, sweating forehead.

"_What is he?! Just kill him before—!"_

There are a thousand needles sticking into every nerve in his body. Each nerve pulses with the movement of his swollen heart, and the blood that flows through him is like tar, pulsing out of him and onto the floor, black and rotten, thick in consistency.

He is dying.

And someone somewhere is screaming. A woman. Then a man. But the woman is louder. She screams as if she is in the same kind of pain Naruto is. But it can't be as bad. Because the woman at least has the energy to scream.

And there is the sound of child crying. A baby. Newborn. The baby is bathed in old blood, then renewed in new blood. Blood like tar. Thick in consistency.

The child is blonde. And it dies in the arms of his weeping father. Then it dies in the torn womb of the mother. Two realities.

And everyone is screaming.

Everyone is _screaming_.

No.

The "Every" is in Naruto's imagination. The blonde child is in Naruto's imagination. It is _Naruto_ who screams. It is _Naruto_ who cries. Because the pain is stabbing him at all sides.

His tears are like fire on his face.

The fire is like fire on his face. Because there is fire. Somewhere. Burning him. Someone is burning him with fire.

On his wrists. On his ankles. The fire holds him down. Restrains him.

And why?

Why have they tied him down?

"_Take him to the sun!"_

"_Make him burn!"_

"_He won't burn."_

"_Prove it!"_

"_We're getting to that."_

"_Sun doesn't come up for hours."_

"_We'll wait."_

There is a tear somewhere on his chest. Something claws and scrapes deep lines across his body. There is a hook of nails under his jaw, and someone lifts his limp head from the floor by inserting that throng of bone into his mouth from the bottom of that jaw-

"_Where should we put him?"_

"_Away from us! I don't want him anywhere _near_ us!"_

"_He's harmless now."_

"_He's already healing."_

"_We heal just as fast."_

"_Not that fast."_

"_What is he?"_

"_We'll know soon enough."_

"_Tell Gaara."_

"_Gaara _will not_ know of this."_

"_But—"_

"_You fucking listen to me, imbecile. Gaara _will not_ know of this. Not yet."_

"…_Yes, Summa."_

"_Do all of you hear me!? Gaara _will not_ know of this!"_

"_Of course, Kankuro-summa."_

"_Whatever you wish, Summa."_

"_You know what's best." _

More bickering. Something that is not painful pokes him at his side.

"_Take him to the other desi-demi. He'll watch him until Sol."_

"_What if the boy eats _him_ too?"_

"_Then we'll have one less degenerate species to care about."_

Strained laughter all around.

And Naruto is being lifted.

The pain of this cannot be described in words. His mouth is open in a scream with no sound, and he wonders if he is only a torso, because he can swear he feels his limbs sticking to the ground, and ripping off their socket joints to leave him without legs and without arms.

"_Look at him. He's falling apart."_

"_I don't understand why we don't just kill him."_

"_We'll need him."_

"_You're out of your fucking mind, Kankuro."_

"_Just trust me. Wait until Sol. You'll see."_

"_I hope he burns to death."_

"_He won't burn."_

Naruto is too far gone to wonder what they mean. He's too far gone to wonder what is happening to him. But the pain is subsiding, and he is drifting out of the half consciousness and falling into a deep sleep that feels a little like an ascension to death.

* * *

Naruto wakes up screaming. The sound is raw and oddly familiar.

He wants to lift his body, he wants to _move_. But he can't.

There is a dull spasming throb at his ribs, and he wants to clutch his sides to relieve it but he finds that he cannot feel his hands. He cannot feel his hands, he cannot feel his arms, he cannot feel his feet, and he cannot feel his legs.

Panic. He starts to panic, his breath coming out like small harsh spurts before he finds himself hyperventilating. He moves what he can feel – his torso – and wiggles in his position.

"Don't move." says a voice.

Naruto starts once, but the jolt of his joints and the sudden opening of his eyes from the sudden movement make him cry out. He is bathed in light when his eyes are open, and they sting.

"I said don't move." repeats the voice, and Naruto feels a hand on his chest, oddly soothing but still holding him down. "And shut up. We don't want them to come back."

Naruto cries out again, his eyes opening at the same time, and all of the sudden pain is hitting him at all sides as he squirms on the hard surface.

"Don't coddle him, Sasuke." Another voice. This one sounds almost amused. "He can take the pain. We know that now."

There is silence after that, and the hand on his chest is removed. He tries to force his eyes open, and waits for them to adjust.

After what feels like many minutes, his eyes can finally open, and what he sees above him is a small light, not very bright, but warm.

"You've got to hand it to him. A few hours and he's got eyes again." The amused voice speaks again.

"Ugnhnn," and that's Naruto again, stretching his neck and trying to _see_.

"Be careful. Your bones will take a little more time to heal."

Naruto pauses, blinking. Bones?

He turns his head to the side finally, to where he can hear the voices, and squints. "Who…"

All he can see are two figures. He can't really make anything out but their shapes and the colors of their hair.

"Give him his glasses."

Naruto is surprised when something is suddenly thrust in his face, and after a while even his near blind eyes recognizes the familiar blurry metal frames of his spectacles. He leans forward for a moment, surprised to find that the pain that had been so excruciating only moments bays enough for him to do so without grunting, and the glasses are put on his face. When he has them on he turns to face his present company again.

It takes a squint and a blink.

And he recognizes them.

A few feet away from him, sitting in a chair that Naruto can't see is a boy with his eyes narrowed in a glare. It is the boy who he'd just seen in the elevator – the one with the wild hair. And next to him was…Naruto's eyes widen. Next to him was the blonde who'd also been in the elevator. The one who'd been staring at Naruto and asking him if he was a whore.

"Wha—" Naruto moves on the hard surface, "Where am I?" he chokes out. And that question seems to spark something in him, seems to bring the full weight of his situation to light. He jerks once, his eyes wide, darting everywhere in the small room. "_Where am I_?! Who are you? Where's—" He blanches. "Where's _Hinata_? Wh-why can't I feel my—"

The blonde man is walking towards him, hands raised in mock surrender. The small smirk he has never leaves his face. "It's a little too late for your woman." He laughs a bit as he stands above Naruto, like a doctor above a patient in a hospital. "She's already been claimed. Won't be long until she's all used up. Although…you should probably consider it a great honor to be friends with a Bearer…"

"Bear – what?" Naruto grunts once before he forgets about the question all together. He tries to wiggle his frame once more, but he still can't feel his limbs. The panic grips him again, and he finds himself hyperventilating again.

"You should be careful…" the blonde man warns. "You shouldn't move so quickly. And…do you not feel hungry at all? No hunger gripping your insides so fervently you feel you could die?"

"What are you talking about?" Naruto demands, and his voice comes out like a growl in an attempt to hide the fear that so thoroughly ripped through him. "What did you do to me?!" Naruto screams a battle cry, and shakes again in his position. He is drugged, he has to be drugged, because he _can't feel his limbs_. He bangs his head on the table and curses aloud, gritting his teeth in pain.

_God damn you_, Kiba. He thinks, angrily. Again, he found himself in a horrible situation because his drug-addict of a so-called friend dragged him into one. "Who are you? What are you gonna do to me?" he yells up at the blonde man. "What have you done to _Hinata_?"

"How are you already able to move?" The blonde man before him looks genuinely astonished. "And how are you not…foaming at the mouth from lack of…nourishment?"

Naruto glares up at him and twitches when he hears a sound from his right. It is the boy sitting on the chair.

"I'm Deidara."

Naruto blinks, still breathing fast, and turns back to the other one. "What?"

"You asked who I was, and I told you my name. Deidara. That boy is Sasuke. And a piece of Sai is behind those drapes, but he won't be able to welcome you properly for a while since…well since the rest of him is probably squirming in your digestive track…" he laughed again, and when he finished he sighed and smiled. "…And you're Naruto. Uzumaki Naruto." He declared while doing a once over at the blonde. "I suppose big things come in small packages."

"P-please," Naruto whispered. "Just let me go. T-tell me where my friend is so I can _leave this place_!" he ends angrily.

Deidara raises his eyebrows and turns to Sasuke with a smile like they are sharing a joke. Sasuke doesn't smile back.

"Leave?" Deidara turns to look back at the blonde. "What makes you think Kankuro-summa would let you go any time soon? After what you did. And what makes you think you can just walk out of here? In your condition?"

Naruto narrows his eyes, anger coming to him again. "What fucking condition?"

"Ha. You very well know what condition…and Kankuro might have been right…" the taller blonde murmurs, giving Naruto another slow once-over. "You might just be the catalyst we need for our cause. Secret weapon maybe. But for now, at least a pawn."

Naruto hesitates. He really doesn't want to indulge these freaks but, "Who…who the hell is Kankuro?"

The taller blonde stares at him. "You're joking."

Naruto scowls back, hoping the man ignores the tears that were welling up in his eyes. He is about to ask what the hell could he be joking about, but thinks better of it. The only thing he would have to do with these people – who at least weren't wearing bright neon outfits like the people outside – was a word on the way out of this place. "Just tell me where the exit is. And give me the antidote to this fucking drug so I can get my friend and get the hell out of here." He demands.

"If you try for the door you won't make it, I guarantee that." Deidara murmurs distractedly. "…Do you really not remember?" he demands then, his features truly curious. "Have you no recollection of…" he pauses, looking at Naruto like he expects something from him. When the smaller blonde only stares at him he frowns.

"Tell us what you remember."

Naruto hesitates. What did these people want from him? Were they going to pounce him like the man in the club did? Pounce on him and try to rip his throat out with a knife? Naruto wondered if that was the reason why he couldn't feel his body – was he injured so thoroughly that he's lost feeling in his limbs?

He feels his face grimace, ready to choke out in a sob, but he catches himself just in time. Show no fear. Instead he begins steadily, turning his neck so he could look at both of them. "If you want drugs I don't have any," he breathes "…if you're selling, I don't want any. If you're trying to take any of my organs, don't bother. I've had a history of sicknes—"

"_Tell us what you remember_."

Naruto stills, his eyes going wide. The voice reaches his core somehow, and he feels something crawl up his spine. "Wh…" he shakes his head. "Please just let me leave."

To his surprise Deidara laughs. He keeps looking at the Sasuke teen and then back at Naruto as if they understood something Naruto didn't. "The allure slips right off you!" Deidara exclaims, genuinely amused. "And it seems you've _truly_ forgotten…" he says in wonder. "Tell me, boy. What day is it?"

"Fuck off." His voice is exasperated, and angry, and _scared_. "Just let me _leave_."

"But won't you tell us what day it is first?"

"_Just let me go_!"

More laughter from the taller blonde. "I can't believe you have the gall to argue in your position."

If Naruto could feel his fists he would clench them.

"If you're not going to answer me," Deidara began, "then I suppose I will just tell you what day it is. It's Thursday. You came here on Wednesday. Or rather, Wednesnight." He corrected with a chuckle.

Naruto pauses. What was this man playing at? "It's Friday…" he counters lowly. But he isn't about to have an argument about which day of the week it was with some drug addict.

This time Naruto isn't surprised at the loud, obnoxious laughter that comes from the man before him. "I suppose Sai and some of the others bashing your head onto the hard floor didn't help!" He laughs.

Naruto doesn't know who Sai is, and he doesn't know what the hell he is doing here. And he is getting sick of just laying there, in a room full of strangers that it almost overrides the fear. "Let me leave." He whispers hotly.

Surprisingly, the man before him steps aside and gestures towards the door. "By all means. Go."

Naruto hesitates. "F...fix me first, asshole." His voice breaks as he says it.

Deidara breathes out through his nose in a strange laugh and shakes his head. "Don't worry. Soon you won't have to worry about anything, no matter which side this story satisfies."

When Naruto glares at him in confusion the man continues.

"If Kankuro's right then you should be right as rain before the end of the day. If not, well." He grinned. "You'll die, and you won't have to worry about anything anymore. But I'll bet our Summa is right…" he murmurs, eyeing Naruto some more. "Skin and bones healing in record time…limbs already starting to regenerate…It won't be long before your mind heals too, and the memories come back. Maybe then you'll start being of use to yourself. And the others."

Naruto bites the inside of his lips.

_What others? Were there people outside waiting to jump him?_

And what nonsense was the guy talking about? His memories? _Regeneration?_

"Where's Hinata…" Naruto chooses to ask, shaking his head, and pleading with his eyes.

"Forget about Hinata." The command belongs to Sasuke. He is standing up from the thing he sits on, and is glaring at the Naruto.

"_Forget_ about her?" Naruto looks back at the brunette, astonished . "She's my _friend_—"

"It's too late for her." the teen says, looking down at the blonde almost cautiously.

Naruto eyes widen and continue widening. "_What_?" his voice is a whisper. Too _late_ for her? Did that mean...

There is something in the other teen's eyes. Something Naruto doesn't understand until the man holds his head downcast and steps away from the table Naruto lays on. "I'm sorry."

Naruto blinks. He's sorry?

"She's safer here anyway!" Deidara exclaims suddenly, getting in between the two. "Kankuro is physically unable to hurt her, and he would do anything to keep her out of harms way…For now, of course. Until she is no longer of use to him."

Naruto swallows. Did that mean that Hinata was alive? "What the hell is going on." He says through his teeth.

"There really is no point in telling you." Deidara responds easily. "You're going to remember everything sooner or later – whether you like it or not. Everything we say now won't make any sense. You'll deny it, and keep on denying it until your mind has healed, and your memories are back."

Naruto keeps his silence on his end. The man before him sounds so serious. But then again, Kiba often seemed his most sober when he was on drugs. "You're right," he begins, but his voice isn't above a whisper. "I don't believe you."

Deidara smiles and bows to him. "Of course not. But give it time." His mouth widens in a slow, languid smile that shows most of his teeth. Naruto stills when he sees them. What kind of strange tooth deformity would make them so sharp?

Deidara clears his throat. "For a human in the face of desidemi you're handling yourself quite well. Then again you probably don't even remember what we're capable of."

Naruto narrows his eyes. Desidemi? Was that the drug they had him on?

_Ke-ke ke-ke ke-ke_

A strange sound comes from the wrists of both Sasuke and Deidara. Sasuke sighs and Deidara nods solemnly. "One minute until noon." The solemnness is gone in a moment, and Deidara looks up to smile at Naruto who is eyeing their wrists suspiciously. "Are you ready to give everyone a show?" the taller blonde murmurs.

Naruto says nothing.

"And the sun is at almost at 100ki this morning. Sasuke, you're the only one who'll be able to stand the rays, so they'll probably use you as a guinea pig to lead the boy outside."

"Hn."

Deidara stretches then, extending his arms up before letting them fall. Then he perks up and faces the door. "And, three…two…one—"

A door at the end of the room bursts open, and two individuals walk in. Naruto's eyes widen, as he recognizes the two people. The blonde woman and the brunette from the strange car.

To his surprise Deidara and Sasuke give the two a curt bow.

The brown haired man waves a disregarding hand, and steps forward to take a look at Naruto. Naruto stares up at him with wide eyes, wishing more than anything that he could just bolt from whatever table they put him on and kick all this people in the face while he was on his way.

"Incredible…" the man above him murmurs.

"I don't see what's so fucking incredible about this." says the woman behind him. "It's obviously another mutation. He probably had weird defromity in him, then he was bitten by that no-breed and it must have spurred this…this…" she didn't finish, but gave Naruto a disgusted look.

Said blonde couldn't help but be lost in the woman's eyes. They'd been a beautiful bright color even without his glasses, and now that he actually had them on he—

Naruto pauses, eyes widening.

Wait.

_Wait_.

He…

He didn't bring his glasses with him to the party.

Naruto hesitates. Did he?

Naruto blinks.

No…No, he _didn't_.

He'd left it on top of his piano, knowing that going to a party like this meant that he might lose his glasses.

He _never_ took his glasses with him to one of Kiba's parties.

Then why…

Naruto stared up at the people before him.

How did these people have his glasses?

How did he have them on at this moment?

He exhaled shakily, lost in his thoughts.

"As you all know," the brown haired man began. "The sun is…troublesome this morning. Sasuke?" he said simply, looking up at the teen.

It seemed that was all the teen needed. He bowed once, turned to face the laying Naruto, and in a swift motion lifted Naruto from the table.

It took Naruto a moment to register the pain. But when it hit him it was like someone set his back on hot iron.

His scream was like an ascending thing, starting light then rising until it was a steady stream of shrieks.

"G-g-_uuuuh_—aaaaaAAAAAAAH FUCK, _FUCK_, GAAAAAAAA—"

"Ugh, please, shut him the hell up, already." The woman's voice.

All of the sudden, Sasuke's hand was on Naruto's mouth squeezing it shut, while the other somehow found the strength to hold the blonde's body up.

"_Mmmmnnn Mmmnnn_!"

And then they were moving. Out of the room and into somehwere dim and univiting.

And there were voices all around him, grumbles, and hisses. His wandering eyes saw people wearing long elegant dresses, scowling at him, stepping away from him.

Naruto was sobbing into the hand now, shutting his eyes shut as hot tears fell down his face. Sasuke wasn't being gentle. Each step and a cool palm moved against what felt like open cuts on his sensitive back.

And what…what was this _pain_?

His back was on fire.

And he still couldn't feel his legs, his arms.

Could it be that…

Naruto sobbed.

Could it be that he didn't have them anymore?

That these people somehow took his limbs and were now…

Naruto doesn't even know what they are trying to do.

He feels like he is choking on his own spit and phlegm and it sounds like it. His muffled screams sound like he is drowning, and he begins to cough in the hand of the teen that holds his mouth shut.

And Naruto can't breathe. He tries to bite the hand that holds him, but it is futile like trying to bite the hand of the monster that had been on top of him had been.

_Fuck you, Kiba_, he thinks, trying to inhale and choking, and sobbing all at once. He is going to die here, he knows he is.

His eyes are fluttering open and closed – but damn him if he is going to give up prematurely. He forces his eyes to open and while still trying to bite the hand, stares at the teen that holds him – Sasuke.

But Sasuke doesn't stare back. He keeps his head held high, so all Naruto can see is the expanse of his throat, the bottom of his strong jaw and blades of his broad chest.

When the man suddenly stops walking Naruto's eyes flutter shut at the temporary relief of pain. There are still resonances of throbbing pain across his body, but compared to the scratching of Sasuke's palm on back—

"Sasuke."

Naruto can't see him but he knows it is the brown haired man speaking.

"When I open the door you'll take him outside…" there is a pause. "Then you'll stay with him until we know for sure."

There is a sea of quiet cackles somewhere, but Naruto is too weak to crane his neck and look around.

Naruto can swear the teen stiffens a bit as he holds him.

"Do you understand, Sasuke?"

There is another pause, and even from below Naruto could see the clenching of Sasuke's jaw. "Yes, Summa."

"Good. Now."

There is clank.

And when Naruto strains his neck he sees a light so bright he wants to shut his eyes again.

But he can't.

The rays of the sun hit his face first, and in the distance he hears people crying out, and shuffling away, but Sasuke is stepping forwards into the light, and his hands tighten it's hold on Naruto.

And then they're outside.

And Naruto isn't sure what he expected, but it isn't Sasuke suddenly dropping him to the floor so hard Naruto sees white.

Then he is seeing white for another reason.

Because it is as if he is dropped into boiling water.

He feels it in his back first. Then it travels to his chest. Then his face.

He finds himself arching in silence, the pain so unbearable no sounds can come from his mouth. Something stains his skin, and he knows it is his blood. Something rips through him, coiling at his insides, boiling in his stomach and _screaming_.

Or is it him that screams?

The difference between this pain is that it moves from an extreme to a less extreme – an extreme so declined that it is almost like pleasure coursing through him.

He twitches on asphalt. And unbearable heat turns into a heat he welcomes, and the boiling in his stomach turns into coils of warmth—

And the sun.

Despite the pain, the excruciating ache of his joints that feel like they are stretching, and _stretching_, and pulling at him, the sun is like ecstasy on his body. And he is directly beneath the high-noon light. It beams at him, bathes him, fills him—

With his memories.

His stolen piano.

The 2K Club.

The party.

Sasuke and Sai ripping out both sides of his _neck_.

And Naruto [][][][][] …

Naruto blinks.

He can't…he can't remember past that.

He brings his hands to his face and wipes his hair back. Choking once when pleasure seems to flow down his spine to the base of his wiggling toes.

Naruto pauses.

His hands on his face.

His wiggling toes.

He gasps himself to a sitting position, staring first at his hands. They shine back at him, tan and reflecting the light of the sun back at him. And his feet. They lay before him, looking like he'd just washed.

And the pain.

Naruto inhales once, sharp and confused as he touches his body.

What pain?

He stares down at himself, and at the view before him. He is in an alleyway. The alleyway entrance to the 2k Club. And right before him, in the sky, is the sun, beckoning him.

It is then that Naruto notices the grunting and gasping to his left.

He turns there, and he expects to see Kankuro standing just inside the door, but it is too dark too see what lies inside. What he doesn't expect is Sasuke, crouching just a few yards away from him, on his hands and knees, glaring at him with one eye open and gritting his teeth as if he is in pain.

And he had to be in pain.

Because redness and smoke seared at his exposed face and arms, as if something was boiling his skin.

Naruto stares back at him for all of two seconds before he puts his own hands on the floor, lifts himself up, and—

He sees an arm come out of the darkness behind the door, brash and quick. "_Sasuke_! Don't let him get away!"

Naruto leaps to his feet to dash away-

But the movement that follows is too quick.

Sasuke is suddenly on top of Naruto, straddling him to the ground with his burning body and his searing hands. Their faces are inches apart, and the brunette breathes harshly into Naruto's face, as wide blue eyes stare back at a suffering pool of black.

"Let me go." Naruto whispers, never taking his eyes off the other teen.

Black eyes stare steadfastly back at him unmoving, and immovable. But Naruto sees the moment of hesitation. Sasuke's eyes shut. "They'll kill me." he whispers back.

Naruto swallows once, allowing his eyes to water. "_Please_." He mouths it more than says it. He is so close. He is so close to getting away. "Please." And this time the tears do fall, because he remembers, he _remembers_.

He remembers the hands that clawed at him, he remembers the way they teared him limb from limb, he remembers the way they raped him, and he remembers _Hinata_ holding onto Kankuro, not caring that the blonde was within an inch of his _life_—

"_Please_."

And there it is, Naruto sees the emotion plainly in the Sasuke's face before it can go away. Guilt.

There is a pause. Then—

"Hit me."

Naruto blinks up the boy, hesitating for one moment, before he brings his leg up and jabs it in Sasuke's nether regions. He barely grazes him, but Sasuke screams like someone put iron on his balls, and rolls off Naruto to collapse limply on his side.

"_NO_!" He hears Kankuro scream, and like a shadow coming to life the man steps out of the darkness, showing a face grimaced in such anger Naruto doesn't have to think twice.

He _runs_.

His quick feet make no sound on the asphalt, and the wind that blows through his hair, the wind that bounces against his naked body, makes him feel like he is soaring, makes him feel like he is flying—

Straight into the sun.

* * *

End of Chapter.

**Author's Notes:**

Tada!

Kind of a cliffhanger, =/ I'm not sure what you guys will make of the ending. Not sure if everyone will like this chapter but I did. **Gaara will be formally introduced in the next chapter!**

And a few questions to help me with rewrites and the next chapter:

**1. It's much better that no one knows what Naruto is, isn't it?**

**2. Why do you guys think Sasuke helped Naruto escape? ._.**

P.S: I'm not making Sasuke particularly nice in this story, but I want him to have a lot of redeeming qualities so that it is plausible for Naruto to possibly be stuck trying to choose between two men in the future.

I'm still not sure if this will end up **SasuNaru or GaaNaru,** but we'll see.


End file.
